The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/71730
INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS of BusinessofCollegeSports.com are a little off, when it comes to net income. In this case, they're almost $17 mil- lion off, the department advises. That website provided financial data from 2010-11, U-M ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT Michigan's athletic department insists the numbers noting it was obtained from the U.S. Department of Education. It claimed net income for the University of Michigan athletic department to be $26,649,449, with total athletic department revenue of $122,486,490 and expenses of $95,836,991. The Wolverine cited the first figure in its May issue, in the "By The Numbers" section, showing Michigan behind only Penn State (a reported $31,619,687 surplus) in the Big Ten. Not so, Michigan countered. Not even close. Athletic department officials provided the following figures from 2010-11: revenues of $116,796,000 and ex- its 2014 football schedule, and one of them could go to a Pac-12 opponent. The Big Ten and the Pac-12 signed a deal to pit its teams against each other beginning in 2017, but Michigan State has already announced a home-and- home with Oregon in 2014-15, and the Wolverines are also actively pursuing a home-and-home series slated before the official deal begins. "I think we're going to have some- thing to announce in that regard soon," Michigan has two open slots to fill on U-M athletics director David Brandon said, though he didn't offer any hint about which Pac-12 teams he's nego- tiating with. Michigan will open the 2014 season In 2013, U-M will face UConn on the road, completing a deal that saw the Huskies open the 2010 season in The Big House. by welcoming Appalachian State to The Big House Aug. 30. The Mountain- eers, who became famous for becom- ing the first Football Championship Subdivision team to upset a ranked Football Bowl Subdivision program when they knocked off the fifth-ranked Maize and Blue in 2007, are transition- ing from the FCS level to the FBS level. U-M will travel to Notre Dame Sept. 6, and then has open dates Sept. 13 and Sept. 20, before the Big Ten cam- paign commences Sept. 27 at Indiana. The 2014 season is ideal for hosting the first of a home-and-home series against a Pac-12 opponent because Michigan can afford to go on the road in 2015 with premium home games scheduled against Notre Dame, Ne- braska and Ohio State. In 2013, the Maize and Blue will host Central Michigan, Notre Dame and Ak- ron before a road trip to Storrs, Conn., penses of $107,872,000, resulting in an operating surplus of $8,921,000. The website noted, in providing the initial informa- tion: "The data from the Department of Education is by no means perfect. Throughout this series, net income was calculated by subtracting the 'grand total expenses' from the 'grand total revenues' that the athletic de- partment reported to the Department of Education. Expenses in this instance included: head and assistant coach salaries, athletically related student aid, recruit- ing expenses, operating (game-day) expenses and 'not allocated' expenses. "The expenses faced by athletic departments, how- ever, may be greater than those reported in this snapshot provided by the Department of Education. For example, an athletic department may have capital expenses out- side of those expenses included in the report." ADDITION TO FOOTBALL SCHEDULE ON ITS WAY will test our team every week," Bran- don said. "There are some programs that don't want to be tested every week, but that's not Michigan. It's not me, our coaches or our kids. "They're looking forward to the "Our schedule this year is one that challenge of playing Alabama and Air Force. They always look forward to Notre Dame. Those are games you work out all summer and prepare for. You get yourself up for and play hard, because you know they're going to be tough. "I feel good about our schedule, and Michigan picked up the win that year, 30-10. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN to take on the Huskies, concluding a deal U-M struck to bring Connecticut to Ann Arbor for the 2010 season opener. "We have a contract with UConn as we look forward to scheduling in the future, we're looking for teams that are going to challenge us and keep us playing at our best." THEWOLVERINE.COM POLL RESULTS to go to their campus and play that game, and that contract is one we're absolutely going to honor, as we do with all our contracts," said Brandon, who addressed rumors Michigan is try- ing to move the game to New York. "Certainly, there are ways to probably make that game bigger, in terms of venue, and we'll have conversations in that regard, but right now UConn is in control of that decision." Michigan's 2012 season, of course, kicks off with a bang when the Maize and Blue travel to Texas to take on defending na- tional champion Alabama Sept. 1. U-M returns home then to meet Air Force and Massachusetts before venturing to South Bend to play Notre Dame. a new poll for its readers to vote on. If you would like to vote, go to www.the- wolverine.com. The poll is located on our premium message board, The Fort. Each month, TheWolverine.com runs gan scheduling Rich Rodriguez- led Arizona to fill an open date in 2014? Would you be in favor of Michi- Yes — 43 percent No — 57 percent 1,192 votes Staff of The Wolverine's consensus: No. JUNE/JULY 2012 THE WOLVERINE 15