Michigan AD Warde Manuel said the impact of the Big Ten's decision to postpone fall sports on the school's athletic department "is upwards of almost half our budget, about $100 million,” according to Angelique Chengelis of the DETROIT NEWS. Manuel, appearing on the “Conqu’ring Heroes” podcast, added, “It is a significant loss, so we have to take as many significant reductions as we can and cutbacks as we have already as we continue to do a budget, salary reductions and those kinds of things. We just keep moving through and trying to figure it out.” Chengelis notes football generated $122,270,243 of the department’s $148,637,051 total revenue last year. Earlier this summer, Manuel, Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh and men's basketball coach Juwan Howard "each took 10-percent cuts to their salaries." Meanwhile, Iowa last week announced the "elimination of four sports," while Nebraska is "reducing its budget 10 percent and will make job cuts across the athletic department." Manuel: "Difficult choices have to be made in order for the long-term health of the department." He added, “This is not about us playing the games for playing the games’ sake and not wanting to take a break during the pandemic. It’s not about financial. We already know the financial impact is going to be very significant on our department" (DETROIT NEWS, 9/1).
