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Michigan athletics projecting deficit of nearly $63 million, AD Warde Manuel says

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Michigan is projecting an enormous deficit for its athletic department for the 2021 fiscal year, according to athletic director Warde Manuel.

Angelique Chengelis of The Detroit News reported on Thursday that Manuel is projecting an operating deficit of roughly $62.9 million. That total comes from revenues equating to $88.8 million and expenses coming in at $151.7 million.

Manuel presented the numbers during the University of Michigan Board of Regents meeting on Thursday.

A big part of the deficit comes from the inability to sell season tickets or allow attendance at athletic events, primarily football and men’s basketball games. Part of the B1G’s return to play plan was to limit attendance to only family of players, coaches and staff.

Also being reported is that the Michigan athletic department is projecting an operating surplus of $1.4 million for the fiscal year 2022. With the expectation that things will proceed somewhat normally this year, there’s much more optimism around Ann Arbor and the rest of the college sports world.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB