If Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh was looking for a good way to deflect some media attention from his NCAA situation and upcoming suspension, he found it in a six-minute statement advocating for revenue-sharing with student-athletes.
While it’s not the first time that Harbaugh has spoken about the issue, it was certainly the most direct version of his opinions on the matter. It also comes on the heels of yet another summer of conference realignment in which billions of dollars shifted around the college sports landscape. The Big Ten, of which Michigan is a member, added four new members from the flailing Pac-12 and undoubtedly added millions of dollars to the coffers of each member school by doing so.
“I want them to be treated with the respect and dignity that they deserve,” Harbaugh said. “What I don’t understand is how the NCAA, television networks, conferences, universities, and coaches can continue to pull in millions, and in some cases billions, of dollars in revenue off the efforts of college student-athletes across the country without providing enough opportunity to share in the ever-increasing revenues.”
Jim Harbaugh opened his first Michigan Football press conference of the season with a nearly-six-minute statement calling for more revenue sharing with players.
He wants the NCAA, voices for the players, and experts to get in a room and figure out a better system than NIL. pic.twitter.com/7wGCweGqLo
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) August 28, 2023
Harbaugh was light on specifics and didn’t offer any solutions for how non-football players might benefit from financial decisions clearly driven with that sport in mind. However, with NIL and other recent changes allowing for student-athletes to get a bigger piece of the financial pie, the Michigan coach says it’s on the people in charge to figure out how to make things even more equitable.
“We have to try to make it work, we have to try to make it better and right now,” Harbaugh said. “The current status quo is unacceptable and won’t survive. In my opinion, when we capitalize on the talent, we should pay the talent for their contributions to the bottom line.”
“We all should be about diversity, equity and inclusion. I’m calling for a system that is fair, equitable, and benefits all involved,” Harbaugh added. “Don’t exclude the student-athletes from the profits. My opinion, you can’t say you’re about diversity, equity, and inclusion, if you aren’t willing to include the student-athletes in revenue sharing.”
Of course, there are a lot of powerful people within the NCAA and atop the universities who like the status quo just fine and will continue to push back against it until they no longer can. But Harbaugh hopes that his comments can keep the dialogue going.
“What I hope to accomplish today is sparking constructive conversation and timely action with and between the NCAA, conferences, coaches, universities, certainly a group representing the student-athletes, as well as experts and legal minds who specialize in revenue sharing,” Harbaugh said.
Michigan hosts East Carolina on Saturday but miss the game as he begins serving a self-imposed three-game suspension over NCAA infractions that are currently being investigated.
