Wren Baker press conference summary: 5-19
West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker met with the media Tuesday afternoon to provide a general update and here is a summary of what was said.
–Baker said they’ve had a ton of strong accomplishments from the various teams. Two-conference championships, a national champion in rifle and are still playing that could continue to earn some accomplishments. The Mountaineers are fourth in the directors cup in the Big 12. Academically, West Virginia continues to do well with matching their highest APR score.
–Baker has been a big proponent of bringing people here for tourism. They have hosted three NCAA regionals and are hoping to add a fourth with baseball which would be the most they’ve ever hosted. That’s good for the city and state economy.
–Gold & Blue Enterprises are doing a lot to continue to promote NIL and build commerical revenue. They’re going to add to Don Robinson’s team to have more boots on the ground.
–The West Press Box Tower project is going very well and are quietly doing the fundraising for that but it has gone extremely well. He expects there will be more updates there in the summer and into the fall. The hope is that it is done by the start of the 2028 football season and they feel pretty good about that. The facilities team, Rob Alsop and others deserve credit for how that has moved forward.
–This year’s budget and next year’s budget will exceed $150 million. MAC Members they are at 7,000 and the all-time high is 8,000 so they are trying to eclipse that. Baker said they will surpass the largest fundraising total this year it’s just a matter of by how much.
–Baker said you’re still in an environment where the resources needed to compete from a roster standpoint change in real time. That number only goes one direction so it’s not just a problem at West Virginia, it’s nationally so everybody is struggling to be where they need to be. The Mountaineers have been able to position themselves better. Baker said very blessed to have Board of Governors that is committed, a great fan base and a great president in Michael Benson.
–Baker said a lot of people have stopped doing the Caravan Tours because of the schedules of coaches but they still think it’s very important and it’s validated every time they go out on the road.
–A lot of frustration with the current climate. There isn’t an owner of higher education or dividends or a board of directors that is making sure you give the shareholders their value. There’s huge pressure to make sure your teams have what they need to compete but it doesn’t always lead to sound and prudent financial decisions and once one person does something it is a cascading effect of others trying to match that. You’re starting to see people make difficult decisions like cutting sports or the experiences of those sports. At some point Baker believes there will be a system in place that’s sustainable but it’s how much collateral damage until you get there. Baker said they must realize what are the goals, what are the priorities and how they can be the best versions of themselves.
–Baker is supportive of the SCORE Act and what he knows about the Senate bill that’s being talked about. He is supportive of anything that defines the rules of engagement so everybody understands and can adhere too. There should have been more benefit to student athletes especially those in revenue sports but you can’t have an unrestricted free agency and think that would be sustainable in a higher education setting. Baker doesn’t know if there isn’t a commitment from all schools to abide by the rules he doesn’t know if it will fix any of the issues. Federal legislation is probably the best bet.
–Baker said it’s a combination of all factors for neutral site games. There is a baseline number of games in Morgantown they want to hit and it’s at least six, but they really want seven. But if you’re given the opportunity to find the right opponent and the financials make sense and you can engage alumni then you want to do what’s right by the state and community but certain neutral site games given you an opportunity to draw revenue and hit a broader audience. Also get an opponent that might only have one open slot. There are also NIL opportunities.
–No imminent update on Mountaineer Field naming rights but they continue to look at all avenues to explore revenue. Whether that’s sponsorship and they are trying to grow revenue. Given their presence in the state when they do a deal like that it needs to be the right partner and has the right values that they can collectively agree on. They’re exploring all of that in an effort to grow revenue.
–Baker loves college basketball and the NCAA Tournament is special and captivates the entire nation. He wants to see how the expansion works and evaluate it after a year or two to see the impact. As things have changed and talent has been aggregated at the power levels, Baker would not be in favor of pulling the automatic qualifiers for the mid majors. Baker said that the CFP needs to be enlarged because it is a relatively small field but he doesn’t know what the right number is because he wants to see how they revenue is divided and how the selection process works.
–Baker said that April Messerly works close with Rob Alsop and there can be some temporary suites that can be constructed so people aren’t displaced totally and it allows them to keep the revenue when it comes to the West Tower. If this goes well and they like it they could add it as a permanent measure. Not quite sure what that looks like yet.
–The league got an investment of capital to take on new revenue generating opportunities with the private capital deal. The second phase incentivizes RedBird who has their hands in a lot of entities to help them find additional partners. The third is the capital available to institutions but they don’t plan to do that. They could get funding for a project at a more affordable interest rate. Baker thinks it’s a good thing for the league.
–Baker said that West Virginia is having success in a lot of sports that aren’t big revenue sports. Baker said you have to evaluate that every day and he doesn’t believe you need to pick and choose. Most of revenue sharing goes to football and basketball, while baseball and women’s basketball gets some too. He doesn’t think you need to downgrade those other sports to be successful in the other two. Rich Rodriguez banked a little bit of his money last year to use this year so it helped him. They know they have to continue to grow their resources but across the board if feels like they’re top half of the league for the first time in a long time. Baker thinks they’re in the best position they’ve been in a long time. Baker said he will never put a number in terms of expectations for wins but he is excited for the fall to get here and is bullish on both of those two major programs moving forward.
–Baker said they explored and have looked at a variety of things for football and they really feel like the primary value is to be had in the new premium inventory and it doesn’t behoove them to do a lot of change other than the parts that need to be changed other than the club seats they’re bringing in. They’ll lose a few hundred capacity so it isn’t that much of a change but when you put the chair back setting in that changes it. They’re still looking through all of it but he doesn’t anticipate any major changes. Baker said they will be intentional to not make any changes they don’t need to make.
–Baker said he’s positive about moving men’s soccer to two semesters because Dan Stratford has been.
–When you talk about revenue a lot of sports present revenue, but only two of them are profitable. They’re growing revenue but they’ve also grown expenses. It’s about capturing revenue where you can and understanding that expense line is going to grow.
–Generally if a project is not revenue producing, they’re not tracking on it very much right now. One of the only ones that isn’t is the apron around the Coliseum because it needs fixed.
–Baker said his approach is the same and his disposition is that he comes to the table with optimism. Some of his earlier comments are about the realistic picture they’re dealing with because they thought a system was coming and it didn’t.
–Baker said that they stagger most of their contracts in a certain way to have protections. They don’t do a ton of multi-year contracts, but the ones they do there are protections on both sides. Right now it’s all unregulated. Everything is on the table in the environment that they’re in and they try to be fair to the student athletes.
–Baker said they needed to work through how many people could be on the field for a concert and both of the venues have some challenges in terms of loading and unloading staging material. They are looking along with this stadium project looking at the tunnels to allow trucks to get right to the field. They are designed and retroactively fitting their stadiums to host those type of events. Baker said you will see more concert events but they are working to do that.
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