Again we get back to the relative importance of athletics to the overall academic pursuits of the University.
Michigan won’t leave the Big Ten and will strongly resist any attempts to break up the conference because of the financial importance of the BTAA (Big Ten Academic Alliance, formerly the Committee for Institutional Cooperation),. The BTAA is made up of all the Big Ten schools plus the University of Chicago. It is the most successful and dominant recipient of research grants in the world. I haven’t checked this year but a couple of years ago the BTAA members received about $3.5 billion in research grants. The University of Michigan alone was awarded slightly more than $1 billion in grants sponsored by BTAA that year.
For perspective, in 2020-21 the total budgeted expenditures for the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) was $2.3 billion. Budgeted expenditures by the U of M athletic department for that academic year was $196.3 million.
It’s easy to see that any situation in the Michigan athletic department simply isn’t very important compared to the financial impact of the BTAA alliances. Any attack on the conference that might effect BTAA alliances will be strongly resisted. That would include football playoff issues, attempts by media to break up the Big Ten, football win-loss records, coaching changes, etc. The financial importance of the BTAA to the academic pursuits of the University and all the other conference member institutions makes it easy to understand the decisions and the non-involvement of President Schlissel in athletic department issues. Such issues may be important to fans, a few alumni, athletic boosters, and participants in sports blogs like The Fort, but they’re not important enough in the larger scheme of things to get President Schlissel’s interest or involvement. And probably rightly so.
Remember what’s been said here in The Fort before… Follow the money.
Michigan won’t leave the Big Ten and will strongly resist any attempts to break up the conference because of the financial importance of the BTAA (Big Ten Academic Alliance, formerly the Committee for Institutional Cooperation),. The BTAA is made up of all the Big Ten schools plus the University of Chicago. It is the most successful and dominant recipient of research grants in the world. I haven’t checked this year but a couple of years ago the BTAA members received about $3.5 billion in research grants. The University of Michigan alone was awarded slightly more than $1 billion in grants sponsored by BTAA that year.
For perspective, in 2020-21 the total budgeted expenditures for the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) was $2.3 billion. Budgeted expenditures by the U of M athletic department for that academic year was $196.3 million.
It’s easy to see that any situation in the Michigan athletic department simply isn’t very important compared to the financial impact of the BTAA alliances. Any attack on the conference that might effect BTAA alliances will be strongly resisted. That would include football playoff issues, attempts by media to break up the Big Ten, football win-loss records, coaching changes, etc. The financial importance of the BTAA to the academic pursuits of the University and all the other conference member institutions makes it easy to understand the decisions and the non-involvement of President Schlissel in athletic department issues. Such issues may be important to fans, a few alumni, athletic boosters, and participants in sports blogs like The Fort, but they’re not important enough in the larger scheme of things to get President Schlissel’s interest or involvement. And probably rightly so.
Remember what’s been said here in The Fort before… Follow the money.
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