More than 70% of UM fans have chosen to move their ticket payments forward to next yearGETTY IMAGES
The Univ. of Michigan's athletic department "still faces a significant budget deficit for the current fiscal year," but the "strain could be lessened with the return of college football," according to Orion Sang of the DETROIT FREE PRESS. UM AD Warde Manuel yesterday said, "If we do have the ability to play the games this year and get through everything, our deficit would go from $100 million to about $80 million." Sang notes UM has been "able to avoid cutting sports" so far. In early September, Manuel said that the department was "laying off 21 employees to offset revenue loss, and highly-paid figures like Manuel, football coach Jim Harbaugh and men's basketball coach Juwan Howard have all accepted salary reductions of up to 10%." But even with the return of football, UM is "still facing a 'significantly reduced revenue stream.'" UM season-ticket holders and donors "have donated close" to $6M to the athletic department. Additionally, "about 71 to 72%" of UM fans "have chosen to move their ticket payments forward to next year" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 10/21). Manuel said the final potential impact of playing less games this year "all depends on how everything goes, how it goes with basketball, all the things that really drive the revenue." Meanwhile, in Detroit, Angelique Chengelis writes UM, like many programs around the Big Ten, is "selling fan cutouts for home games to also generate some revenue" (DETROIT NEWS, 10/21).
EXEMPT STATUS: In Detroit, Rainer Sabin reports a "two-week stay home order" for UM students "will not prevent the school's football team from traveling to Minnesota this weekend for its season opener." Washtenaw County "issued the directive to stem an uptick in COVID-19 cases among the student body." UM athletics so far "has avoided a coronavirus outbreak." Since testing began in June, 104 positive results "have been recorded among the 11,889 student-athletes and staff members who have been examined" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 10/21).
