Univ. of Michigan interim AD Jim Hackett on Thursday announced that the athletic department had a deficit of nearly $8M for the '14-15 FY, "marking the first time in about a decade it operated with a loss ... but he assured the budget for 2016 will be balanced," according to Angelique Chengelis of the DETROIT NEWS. Hackett projects that UM will have a $153.6M budget "with operating expenses," compared to an operating budget of $151M for FY '14-15. UM "had to absorb costly contract compensations" in the form of the firing of former Michigan football coach Brady Hoke and his staff in addition to the resignation of former AD Dave Brandon. Michigan also hired Jim Harbaugh as its head football coach and will pay him $7M this year, including a $2M signing bonus. Hackett: "The good news is, next year we're going to have a balanced budget. The bad news, this year, we had a deficit. The result of football ticket sales being down (and) added compensation for settlements this past year caused us to have a deficit of about $7.9 million. We covered that with operating reserves, but we've got a balanced budget proposed for next year. ... We have a revenue picture for next year that's very healthy, primarily because our football program rebounds. We can tell you today, season ticket sales, which are just a portion of the stadium, will probably hit an eight-year high. We just started selling our packets, with combined games (Wednesday) online, (and) we've had almost 18,000 tickets that were sold for some of the single games. We're very optimistic about our fall and what promises there" (DETROIT NEWS, 6/19). Meanwhile, Hackett said that he "plans to hold to a self-imposed deadline of July 1 to determine which apparel manufacturer the athletic department will sign with." Hackett: "Look for an answer soon" (DETROIT NEWS, 6/19).
