Champions Circle® is a community of fans, alumni, and supporters whose goal is empowering University of Michigan student-athletes to be the leaders and best through name, image, and likeness.

Champions Circle® is actively raising funds for the 2024 and 2025 calendar years to support Michigan student-athletes and their coaches and programs. Many of you may have seen recent headlines or read articles related to the proposed settlement in the House v. NCAA case and wonder how this might impact our need for your continued support to keep Michigan Athletics competitive.

In short, while the collegiate athletics landscape is evolving toward revenue sharing, we and Michigan still need your support for the 2024 and 2025 calendar years to remain competitive for the following reasons:

• There will be no revenue sharing in 2024 and there are significant unmet needs (in excess of $5M) to support athletic programs across Michigan this year.

• The proposed revenue sharing that is expected to begin in the fall of 2025, will provide approximately $20-22M in funding which will be shared across all of our 29 sports and in compliance with federal Title IX provisions (equal opportunities for men and women in athletics). With an estimated 950 Michigan student-athletes, this could mean an average of $24,000 in annual compensation per student-athlete. Thus, given current market conditions and any reasonable manner of sharing these funds, Michigan Football and Men’s Basketball will still need significant external funding for NIL-related activities (easily in excess of $6M and possibly as much as $10M) to remain competitive.

• The proposed class-action settlement has not actually been accepted by the judge and many further details will need to be worked out before it can be fully implemented. Furthermore, there are obstacles (including other lawsuits) which could derail the implementation of the proposed settlement. This means there is uncertainty regarding the availability of the estimated $20-22M in revenue sharing for the 2025-26 seasons.

As revenue sharing continues to evolve, we do anticipate that the need for donor funding of NIL-related activities to help keep Michigan competitive will be reduced. However, this will likely take place over several distinct steps over many future years until there is a framework in place that has student-athlete compensation fully funded within athletic department budgets and without the need for external resources. Until we reach that point in time, Champions Circle® will continue to evolve and work in conjunction with the Michigan Athletic Department to ensure that Michigan has the resources to remain the Leaders and Best!

Go Blue!

The Champions Circle® Team