Calamities of all kinds are striking Ann Arbor and are now becoming frequent. The most recent blow came by way of the House settlement, which is causing a shakedown in the entirety of college football. While this new era is ushering in more opportunities for certain CFB bluebloods, Warde Manuel and Michigan are languishing in money woes. It’s surprising to see that a program that boasts how it dramatically flipped the star of the 2025 class is in near shambles. It’ll take quite a while for this dark cloud to pass over Manuel and Co.
The House settlement’s first and foremost impact is on payment to players. The No. 1 issue that plagues college football recruitment just got easier to manage. According to the settlement, big-name programs are to allocate $20.5 million according to the new norm of revenue sharing. Michigan athletics, in light of this mandate, is looking at a deficit of a whopping $27 million for the 2025-26 period. Part of that is the designated fund as per revenue sharing, while $6.2 million is to be exhausted for new scholarships. “Michigan Athletics will be supporting athletic scholarships at an annual total cost of nearly $40 million,” the AD added. To make up for this, Manuel specified in the letter that 10% of the staff, along with $10 million from the budget, would be cut. More measures around travel and broadcasting are also going to be in play.
In a June 11 episode of The Triple Option, host and veteran coach Urban Meyer asked Big 12’s Brett Yormark if measures like Michigan’s will become the norm. “I want to find opportunities that create value for our membership, which ultimately means driving more revenue and distributing more revenue to our schools. So, that’s what I think about daily. I also think that schools are of that same and similar mindset. How do they create more value? How do they further commercialize their businesses, in order to support some of these new expenses?… But I also think they have to look at the expense side of the equation. You know, we all have to be better operators,” the commissioner replied.
Michigan has a huge reserve funding its NIL landscape. That’s evident in their campaign for Bryce Underwood, who has the backing of Larry Ellison and his $216.9 billion net worth. And yet, Michigan athletics is incurring such a huge loss. However, Manuel does mention in his message that the measures being undertaken have brought down their $27 million deficit to $15 million.
“We need to be in the value creation business. We have to do business differently. And we have to grow the pile. And while we’re doing that, we also have to be mindful of expenses and what do we really need in order to be successful,” Yormark warned, encouraging a balanced outlook as programs enter this new era.
Meyer sounded an alarm for the possibility of schools dropping programs in their efforts to manage money in this new situation. This is a possibility that even Paul Finebaum agrees can happen. It poses a dangerous threat to women’s sports in programs that are struggling to get by. Meyer worries that something like this happening at Ann Arbor would be an ugly situation.
Urban Meyer fears women’s sports taking a blow amid Warde Manuel woes
“A maximum of roughly $20.5 million per school can be shared with student-athletes for this coming year. Schools can distribute that money any way they see fit,” Manuel wrote in his letter. At Michigan, he’s doing this by way of cutting down on key costs. Manuel is also hoping to generate more revenue from events and partnerships at Michigan this year. In the spectrum of college sports, football occupies the majority of space and attention. Meyer and Finebaum both worry that women’s sports face a harsh reality of disappearing from schools. In fact, the latter is expecting Title IX lawsuits to pile up soon.
Urban Meyer fears it more because of a personal reason. “I hope women’s sports don’t go away… My both girls play college sports. And you take away college volleyball from my daughters, that’s a game changer, man. Remember, Warde Manuel just came out and said this is one of the most lucrative athletic departments in the country,” he said. And now, Michigan is scrambling to fund its athletics, keep players happy, and also hopes to keep scholarships coming in. Previously, Manuel claimed that 75% of the $20.5 million fund would go to football. 5 to 15% is to go to women’s and men’s basketball. If that’s the case for basketball alone, the odds for other women’s sports look grim.
Michigan’s woes stand in stark contrast to its elite status in CFB. Colleges across the sport are devising their own ways to manage the financials. Things are looking up for programs like Ohio State, which gathered both its NIL collectives into one to facilitate more opportunities for players. UCLA is choosing not to recruit any scholarship players for the season to keep their funds intact. How Warde Manuel gets through the season with so many restraints will truly be a test for the AD.
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