MORGANTOWN - In the so-called "arms race" in major college athletics, West Virginia is just trying to stay a leg up.
The 2008-09 fiscal year begins today, and for the first time, WVU is staring at a likely $50 million budget for athletics. That's more than 100 percent higher than the Mountaineers made and spent in breaking even (by $332,286) only six years ago.
In 2006-07, WVU athletics showed a profit of $4.25 million. For the fiscal year that closed Monday, the revenue and expense lines will be closer. The final numbers will be crunched in the new few weeks.
"We're probably going to be somewhere in the $49 to 50 million range," said WVU's veteran athletics financial chief, Russ Sharp. "We should be in the black, unless a very large depreciation number (on facilities) hits us, and I don't expect that."
West Virginia's athletic budget ranks third among Big East Conference all-sports members, not far behind Louisville ($54.6 million in 2006-07) and Connecticut ($52.8 million).
While WVU's across-the-board athletic success on the field and the floor has brought the program to a new level of success, you might say in one way it has been an up-and-down year on the bottom line in the financial ledgers.
The Mountaineers landed a second Bowl Championship Series berth in three seasons, but the distance and expense of traveling to Phoenix (and eating of about 7,000 tickets) for a Fiesta Bowl triumph left WVU with a $1.051 million bowl deficit.
"We went to a great bowl, but when you can land in the black after losing more than $1 million on your bowl trip, that's a great accomplishment," said Sharp, who WVU's senior associate athletic director for finance and administration.
The start of a new Big East television contract for basketball - about $22 million annually, up from $10 million in previous years - also gave WVU a boost.
Combined with the Mountaineers' Big East semifinal advancement in men's and women's basketball and NCAA Tournament success, the increased TV and revenue-sharing dollars brought WVU $2 million more in conference basketball and other (NCAA soccer bids) monies than in 2006-07.
In football, West Virginia realized a conference-high $880,495 for nine network telecast appearances - a $142,000 increase from seven TV dates in the 2006 season. The Big East football TV revenue pool will rise in 2008-09, too, as a new TV contract starts (and rises from $8 million this past season to $13 million annually).
WVU realizes in the $2.2-2.3 million range (after state sales taxes are paid) from a home sellout at Mountaineer Field. That figure includes ticket sales, parking and concessions (but not TV revenue).
"We're going to have more football revenue (in 2008-09) because we have a seventh home game, and it helps that we have a stream of consistent, stable revenue from our conference," Sharp said. "However, moving forward, we'll also have increased costs.
"Travel and utilities will go up 7, 8, 9 percent. The simple coming and going is going to cost much more. We're wrapping up a $4 million football locker room project (this month), and we're looking at a $24 million basketball practice facility, the largest project we've ever done."
Another significant cost to Mountaineer athletics is in grant-in-aid money.
The athletic department pays a scholarship reimbursement to the university - a line item that is waived at most major college schools. The scholarship cost is 2007-08 is around $6.123 million - or double what it was when Sharp came to WVU in 1999-2000.
Huggins' desire to schedule intersectional games that are attractive for television exposure helps West Virginia's program in more than recruiting and the Ratings Percentage Index.
The Big East pays its men's programs $100,000 for each of those appearances (Oklahoma and Auburn last season, Ohio State and a Jimmy V Classic game this coming season for WVU).
The WVU basketball success under former Coach John Beilein and the increased enthusiasm for the program when Huggins returned to his alma mater also are reflected in the 2007-08 revenue.
West Virginia sold 6,600 season tickets in basketball last season - a school record and 1,000 more than the previous season. The overall ticket revenue (single-game and season) for WVU Coliseum games increased from $2.15 million in Beilein's last season to $2.7 million for Huggins' debut year.
"That's a pretty nice increase," Sharp said. "We've picked up new costs in basketball (in Huggins' salary), but there's been a positive return on the revenue side, in ticket sales and elsewhere. It's well worth the money we're spending, and we're lucky to have Coach Huggins.
"There's the uptick in football assistants' salaries, and next we're adding a second assistant coaching position in men's soccer, volleyball, swimming, track and field and crew. That's not a tremendous amount of money we're talking about, and it's about quality coaching, which is important.
"No matter how much revenue we have, the one thing I see continuing is the pressure to improve. The goal is to get each of our programs as competitive as they can be, but at the same time, we're going to remain good stewards of finances while maintaining quality facilities ... Things will always happen that it's tough to plan for. Those are the kind of things that will impact us."
Sharp said WVU will continue to spend in athletics with a mindset he brings to the classroom when he teaches sport finance at WVU.
"I tell them if you're going to spend, in my mind it has to meet certain standards," Sharp said. "If you're spending money to improve the competitiveness of the program or improve the experience of the student-athlete, then it's OK.
"If it doesn't meet one of those two criteria, then I think you need to seriously consider why you're doing it. Those two reasons are why we're here."
