Since I had nothing better to do today I looked into U of M athletics financial statements.

In 2018-2019 Men’s XC/TF had total expenses of $2.1M

So this move saves them $2.1M right? Wrong! Let’s dive in...

New track has an annual charge of $566,000..fixed cost for awhile..

So now we are at ~$1.6M in savings right? Wrong!

Total Coaches/admin salaries were ~$400,000...also not going anywhere if women’s program/men’s XC are around.

So now we are at ~1.2M in savings right? Wrong!

We’ve got revenues!

About ~$400,000 worth. Presumably, tickets, fundraising, guarantees, etc...

Okay, but we still save $800,000 right? No, still wrong.

Remember how men’s XC is still a thing? So a rough estimate of travel, gear, equipment, food, scholarships,etc..let’s say about $100k for XC...

Okay so here we are...still $700,000 in savings! We might be getting close, but how about training equipment for track? Women will use that too so all that $200k is not gone. Maybe half?

But don’t worry all $588 spent on marketing and promotion will be saved, good job...

Alright so here were are, two historic programs gone (indoor and outdoor) and opportunities for 50 student-athletes each year gone all to save ~$600,588.

Which mind you, is about .04% of the total U of M athletics expenses of ~$130M in a typical year.

Here’s how they could save the same amount...
1. Cut a lot of travel (75%)
2. Can you get by with 4/5 full time coaches instead of 6?
3. Recruiting/equipment cuts
4. Remove 2/3 full scholarships

Savings: ~ $600,000 (see if you can come up with $588 for promotions/marketing)