No, Softball Isn't Coming to WVU and Likely Never Will — Here's Why

Shutting down the speculation of West Virginia possibly adding softball.

West Virgnia University Vice President and Director of Athletics Wren Baker. | Christopher Hall

Earlier this week, West Virginia announced that it would be adding 140 athletic scholarships, the bulk of which will be going to its Olympic sports. I've seen more than a handful of people on social media question whether this indicates that the university is creating room for a softball program. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's not happening. And probably never.

Why?

It's simple: softball isn't a profitable sport, and in this day and age, where raising money is more important than ever, creating more debt doesn't make much sense.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a softball team at WVU because I do think there's an appetite for it from the fan base, and the state has a lot of talent. They could easily develop a strong program that resembles what the Mountaineers have done in baseball. From a financial standpoint, it just isn't a smart move to add softball, or any other sport — men or women — during this crazy time of college athletics.

A year ago, athletic director Wren Baker pretty much revealed his stance on softball a year ago during an appearance on 3 Guys Before the Game.

"I tell people all the time you take out football and men’s basketball and look at the rest of our sports. This comes up when people push me about adding softball. They’re like you’d make money. There’s a difference between bringing in revenue and be profitable. Yes, we would bring in revenue. We would be nowhere near profitable because there’s no profitable softball program in the country. So to assume that we would be would be a fallacy.”

Baker's energy and money, for that matter, are better served helping the programs that he and the university do have, helping them remain successful or become more competitive. Everyone wants the football program to return to national relevancy, and for every dollar or minute you take away from that mission, you're delaying the process. Football needs to be successful for the overall health of the athletic department. Investing heavily there is the priority, as it should be.

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