One year ago, the University of Wyoming signed on to participate in the revenue-sharing landscape of college athletics for its five revenue-generating sports: football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, wrestling and volleyball.
However, Wyoming’s football budget has been falling short of the price tag for success, according to head coach Jay Sawvel, athletics director Tom Burman and senior associate athletic director for compliance Peter Prigge.
According to Wyoming News, the Cowboys spent $1.1 million on revenue-sharing with the football team in 2025, and the athletics department leaders have negotiated up to $2 million for the 2026 season. But Sawvel is looking to win Wyoming its first conference championship in 30 years.
“To compete for conference championships on a routine basis in the MW, Wyoming football will need $4-5 million annually,” he said at last week’s Board of Trustees meeting.
The proof is in the pudding. Swavel explained that he offered revenue-sharing deals to eight football players who were considering transferring after the 2025 season. He reported, “Six of the eight that we made an adjustment for stayed, some for substantially less than what they obviously would have gotten had they entered the portal and went out on an open market.”
Swavel also cited Wyoming’s competition in the Mountain West Conference, and the success of a team he admires: Boise State University, as evidence for increasing revenue-sharing dollars.
“I’ve encouraged Tom … to bring us a budget on a different basis, and that basis is the amount that he thinks that he needs to be competitive,” said Kermit Brown, chairman of the UW Board of Trustees. “Now, he may not get it, but if he doesn’t ask for it, he won’t get it. If he asks for it and then we trim it back, then it’s on us and not on him, and that’s where I want it to be. In other words, I want Tom to set the bar where it needs to be, and then we’ll take a look and see how we’re going to deal with it.”
The goal to increase revenue-sharing numbers was not only limited to the football team, as Burman explained to Trustees that the basketball team would need to be reaching the $5 million mark as well to compete for conference titles.
