The Bobcats compete as members of the Mountain East Conference for all twenty-one varsity sports.

[2][3] One of the earliest sporting traditions at Wesleyan was football, which was introduced in the pre-college seminary in 1898.

The school colors of orange and black go back to that very first game, when fullback and team captain Frank Thompson wore a turtleneck sweater in Princeton University's orange and black to honor two football greats of that university whom he especially admired.

Early sports included football, baseball, basketball, and gymnastics, all for men only.

Among them, two alumni have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame - Earl "Greasy" Neale '15 of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1969 and Cliff Battles '33 of the Washington Redskins in 1968.