UTEP’s move to a nicer neighborhood in the Mountain West is well established. So how big are the houses of the new neighbors?
Payrolls for players are a closely guarded secret pretty much everywhere, but not closely enough to keep numbers from leaking out and UTEP is squarely in the Mountain West middle class. The Miners still rank low in overall athletic budget and football budget, though they aren’t too far behind the middle class there as well.
UNLV leads in player payroll by a significant amount. Here is a look at numbers, many reported on the internet, and also from the site NIL-NCAA.com. These are mostly estimates, and like gas mileage on a car, are best used for comparison purposes.
Total athletic budget
By comparison, Sam Houston State leads Conference USA in funding with an athletic budget of $42.27 million. That does not include the private school Liberty, whose budget isn’t public record but is estimated to be $57.4 million. UTEP paid $8 million to leave Conference USA to join the Mountain West on July 2026.
Football budgets
UNLV: $21,767,260.
San Jose State: $16,017,209.
New Mexico: $15,386,871.
Nevada: $14,787,520.
Hawaii: $13,943,117.
Northern Illinois: $13,269,400.
Wyoming: $13,091,900.
UTEP: $12,717,061.
Air Force: $12,007,431.
North Dakota State: $8,353,482.
Liberty is estimated to lead Conference USA with a football budget of about $24-28 million. Middle Tennessee is next at about $12.5 million.
Revenue share and NIL Collective estimates
From NIL-NCAA.com
Liberty is estimated to lead Conference USA with an NIL/Revenue sharing budget of around $4 million. Florida International is second at an estimated $2 million.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: ‘Climb Higher’: Where UTEP stands in the Mountain West budget race
Reporting by Bret Bloomquist, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Bret Bloomquist, El Paso Times | USA TODAY Network
