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Michigan Athletics says it raises nearly $6 million in donations from season-ticket holders

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

A good portion of Michigan’s season-ticket holders opted to donate the cost of their 2020 football tickets back to the school’s athletic department, the university said in a message on social media on Monday. That generosity resulted in a near-$6 million in donated funds.

The University of Michigan’s athletic department announced on Monday that 3,580 season-ticket holders donated the cost of their tickets back to the university, rather than asking for a refund. That total comes out to about 16% of the football program’s season-ticket holder population, which resulted in a donated amount of $5.9 million.

With athletic departments losing somewhere between eight and nine figures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, every penny helps.

“We are amazed by the generosity of our amazing fans,” the statement on Twitter read. “We had 3,580 season ticket holders donate their [Michigan football] tickets to our athletic department, raising $5.9M. Simply put, we can’t do any of this without your support. Thank YOU!”

Though the B1G decided to reverse course and reinstate a fall football season — scheduled to begin Oct. 24 — the conference is not permitting fan attendance or ticket sales for the season. Only families and close friends of players and coaches will be allowed inside the stadium this year across the league’s 14 venues.

Earlier this year, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said he expects the department to experience over a $60 million loss in revenue due to the pandemic.

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