Bowling Green, Kentucky · Football Bowl Subdivision · public university. Western Kentucky University reported $31.3M of athletic revenue in 2024-25 against $31.3M of expenses. That is 27% of the $116.0M median for the 128 Football Bowl Subdivision programs, and it ranks 126th of 128 in the FBS and 192nd of 358 across Division I. Revenue fell 15.1% from the prior year’s $36.9M.
Analysis by Matthew Hanauer, PhD, Chief Technology Officer at Civly · All 358 Division I schools
All figures come from the school’s own filings for 2024-25 and are compared with the 128 programs in its group.
Paying the full $21.3M revenue-sharing cap for 2026-27 would take 68.0% of this department’s revenue. The cap is the most a school may pay its athletes directly, and no school is required to pay it. Third-party name, image and likeness money is uncapped and does not count against it. At that share of revenue, paying the full cap is not a realistic budget for this program.
350 athletes were counted at the school in the survey year, filling 260 men’s and 151 women’s roster spots across 9 sports. The two counts differ because an athlete who plays two sports fills a spot in both. Enrollment is 11,099. Football is the largest single line, $11.0M of revenue against $11.0M of expenses, which is 35% of what the department earned.
Each row shows one sport’s revenue, expenses and athletes.
| Sport | Revenue | Expenses | Net | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Football | $11.0M | $11.0M | +$0 | 112 | 0 |
| Basketball | $4.8M | $4.8M | +$0 | 18 | 14 |
| Baseball | $1.5M | $1.5M | +$0 | 40 | 0 |
| Track and Field and Cross Country (combined) | $1.2M | $1.2M | +$0 | 80 | 66 |
| Volleyball | $1.1M | $1.1M | +$0 | 0 | 12 |
| Softball | $902k | $902k | +$0 | 0 | 15 |
| Soccer | $802k | $802k | +$0 | 0 | 27 |
| Golf | $666k | $666k | +$0 | 10 | 9 |
| Tennis | $387k | $387k | +$0 | 0 | 8 |
The table shows the 9 sports at Western Kentucky University that reported money or participants in 2024-25. Sports the school surveyed but left empty are not shown. Revenue and expenses attributed to no single sport, which at most departments is the larger share of both, are counted only in the department totals above, so these rows do not add to those totals. Sort by any column.
We have verified one organization as funding this program. Its tax return reports what it raised.
“Funds Received By the Foundation Are Used to Support the Athletic Programs at Western Kentucky University. Awards Were Made to the Individual Athletic Activities During the Fye December 31, 2023.”
The link to Western Kentucky University comes from what this organization says it exists for, in the mission statement on its own tax return, plus its registration in the same state. Its 990 mission names the school and uses athletics or NIL language, its name includes athletics wording, and it is based in Bowling Green.
The revenue-sharing cap is the most a school may pay its athletes directly: $20.5M for 2025-26 and $21.3M for 2026-27. No school is required to pay it. Third-party NIL money is uncapped and does not count against it. No federal athletics survey covers a revenue-sharing year yet. The first is expected around spring 2027.
Every college that takes federal student aid and fields a team files this survey each year under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act. Because filing is a federal requirement, the survey covers private universities that NCAA-based databases do not include. The figures are the school’s own reported numbers for 2024-25, and the Department of Education does not audit them. Reported revenue includes direct institutional support and student fees, so every department in the survey reports revenue at least equal to its expenses, and a reported surplus does not mean a profit.
A Form 990 shows what an organization raised. It never shows what any athlete was paid. No figure in the funder section is anyone’s compensation or the value of any deal. The form has no single donor-money line. Some organizations book donor money as contributions and others as program service revenue or fees for services, so each funder card lists total revenue first.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act survey, 2024-25; IRS Form 990 e-file releases for donor entities. Analysis: Civly.
Civly Athletics vets athletes. Collective Prospecting finds and qualifies the donors behind a collective and traces each name to a filing or a public post.