Urban Meyer reacts to Michigan cutting athletic department staff: 'Red flags are all over the place'

With revenue sharing for college athletes now in effect as of July 1, schools around the country are looking for ways to pinch pennies. That includes Michigan, which announced recently that it was facing a $27 million deficit for the 2025–26 year, including $20 million in revenue sharing.

Michigan revealed it will make cuts to its staff and hope to bring in additional revenue through outside events such as concerts. Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer used the Wolverines as an example to show what kind of impact the House v. NCAA settlement is having across the board.

“Now you’re starting to hear about private equity come in,” he said in a recent episode of The Triple Option podcast. “You’re starting to hear about the student fees. There’s a couple school out there that are getting ready to slam the students with a big bill. I can guarantee you the staffs are being challenged, the ADs are being challenged. Creativity is gonna be the word of the day on how to raise revenue.

“One of the best brands and the biggest brands in college sports, the Wolverines, had a 10 percent cut in personnell and are expecting a $25 million loss of money on their budget at the end of the year. That to me, red flags are all over the place on that one.”

Overall, Michigan is preparing to take around $10 million in budget cuts for the upcoming year. That will include reducing the allocation for its TV revenue from $8 million to $2 million as well as significantly cutting down on travel costs.

With changes in roster sizes, the Wolverines reported that they are set to add roughly 82 scholarships total across 19 sports in 2025. That will lead to an additional cost of around $6.2 million.

It clear that the new revenue sharing model has completely turned college sports on its head. Schools are now allotted a maximum of $20.5 million that they can share with student-athletes, and keeping up with the competition will be imperative to say ahead of the curve.

As Meyer mentioned, coming up with creative new ways to generate revenue will become increasingly important for universities. We’ve already seen Michigan make some attempts to do so by hosting concerts and other sporting events. But as more and more changes continue to happen, this likely isn’t the last example we see of this.