Gender-equity reports show that the "financially successful football programs" at Univ. of MI (UM) and MI St. Univ. (MSU) "have allowed increased spending in every other sport -- particularly women's programs" according to Fred Girard of the DETROIT NEWS. UM's total Athletic Dept. revenue for the '97-98 school year "cracked" $50M, with the football team earning $23.4M -- a 15% increase from '96-97 -- due to a Rose Bowl appearance and a seventh home game. UM AD Tom Goss: "That one extra home game can pay for an awful lot of gender-equity issues." MSU earned $28.1M, with football revenue at $13.4M, an increase of 2% from a year earlier. The report shows that spending on women's sports at UM and MSU increased 34% and 40%, respectively, over the past three years. The following lists the total profits of Big Ten football programs in '97 (DETROIT NEWS, 10/27):
| UNIVERSITY | PROFIT | | UNIVERSITY | PROFIT |
| OHIO STATE | $14,829,864 | MICHIGAN STATE | $6,633,284 |
| MICHIGAN | $14,465,143 | ILLINOIS | $5,216,401 |
| PENN STATE | $9,829,610 | NORTHWESTERN | $4,656,618 |
| WISCONSIN | $9,280,792 | INDIANA | $3,515,537 |
| IOWA | $9,101,681 | MINNESOTA | $2,701,769 |
| PURDUE | $6,690,800 | | |
