The Board of Regents approved the athletic department’s 2025 fiscal year budget on June 20, as part of the overall university submission.
For FY ’24, which ends June 30, the athletic department projects a slight operating surplus of $200,000 based on operating revenues of $230.6 million and operating expenses of $230.4 million.
Looking ahead to the 2024-25 operating budget, the department projects an increase in total operating revenues to $255.7 million and an increase in total operating expenses to $253.6 million due to various factors.
Elements of the budget include:
- Spectator-admissions revenue will fluctuate over the next several fiscal years due to an imbalanced conference football schedule. That revenue is projected to increase by $14.8 million in FY ’25 due to an increase in home football games from seven in 2023 to eight in 2024, combined with an increase in ticket prices.
- Conference distributions are projected to increase by $12.9 million in FY ’25 due to the impact of a new conference television agreement.
- The athletic department continues to explore ways to maximize revenues. The FY ’25 budget includes $2.6 million in net revenues from alcohol sales and $1 million in revenues from alcohol sponsorships.
- Operating expenses include a $10 million transfer to a deferred maintenance fund and a $7.8 million transfer to the university. The deferred maintenance fund is used to provide for significant repair and rehabilitation projects for athletic facilities. The department expects to continue setting aside additional funds for this purpose in future years.
Athletics had another strong year, with nearly 494 student-athletes earning Academic All-Big Ten Conference compared with 491 in 2022-23, 507 in 2021-22, and 499 in 2020-21.
Through June 15, 58 student-athletes earned All-America honors during the year, compared with 44 in 2022-23. In addition, Michigan had 86 student-athletes earn All-Big Ten honors, with 11 student-athletes winning individual conference championships.
Once again, Michigan led the Big Ten with seven team conference championships, marking the third consecutive season the Wolverines have led the conference in total titles. The Wolverines finished the year ranked 11th nationally in the LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup standings of best overall athletic departments.
