The most significant news to come out of WVU Athletic Director Wren Baker’s news conference earlier this week was not the additional details about the firing of Coach Neal Brown or his search for a successor.
Yes, that is what the public is most interested in, but his most important statement was about the University’s efforts to reach the goal of raising $20.5 million to share with the school’s student athletes. That figure represents 22 percent of the average Power Four athletic department budget.
“We do expect [emphasis added] to be at or near the full participation in rev (revenue) share,” Baker said. “Once we determine that football number, there’s a substantial amount of rev share. That’s a big part of the job now.”
Yes it is, especially now that Baker is searching for a new football coach. One of the first questions any coaching candidate will ask is how much money is available to pay the players. Baker is now on record saying it will be “at or near” that $20 million mark.
The revenue sharing is part of the settlement of a consolidated antitrust lawsuit filed by former athletes arguing they are entitled to compensation from the schools. The settlement still must be finalized, but WVU and the rest of the Power Four schools are all trying to figure out where to find the money and how to distribute it starting next year.
The WVU Athletic Department raises and spends nearly $100 million a year, so where does it find another $20 million? Baker has been laying the groundwork with President Gordon Gee and the WVU Board of Governors.
The general belief is that the athletic department, which has been self-sufficient, must have additional support from the University and the University community. Watch for the Athletic Department to expand its sponsorship options. That could include sponsor naming rights for WVU athletic venues—think the Coliseum, for example.
The role of collectives will change and we will have to see how the University manages the relationship between the Country Roads Trust and the new revenue sharing arrangement.
But questions remain.
Baker has made the promise public, and now the pressure is on to deliver. Otherwise, WVU will fall even farther behind other Power Four schools that have more resources available to them.
Also, how will the revenue sharing money be distributed? It is believed it will be pro-rated to sports based on the revenue they generate. However, can that be accomplished without running afoul of Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in athletic programs.
Two final points:
The revenue sharing is overdue. For too long, colleges and universities cashed giant checks from television, ticket sales and sponsorships, while plowing the money into coaches’ salaries and facilities. The good times lasted while the labor was cheap.
But it is also true that the myth of amateur athletes in big time college sports has completely dissipated. This is a business, and it is up to colleges and universities to figure out how to run it like one.