The Victors

If your main problem with a two decades plus old facility largely paid for by a private donor are the annual maintenance, janitorial and utility costs, then what do you do?

I suppose you could just entirely eliminate that annual cost by tearing down the building. Mothballing it would reduce a substantial amount of that cost, but then it gradually becomes an eyesore. I imagine you could remodel and repurpose it at some cost for a non-AD type of function, but that doesn't address your objection.

Ultimately, of course, if you take one of the first two options, you essentially eliminate the varsity women's gymnastics team. For Title IX purposes, you may have to axe the men's gymnastics team too and tear down or mothball their facility as well.

If that's your solution set, then fine. UM could move away from the Stanford model and go for the Texas model by supporting the minimum number of varsity sports required by the NCAA to be considered Division 1-A. It works both ways when it comes to athletic success and the Director's Cup standings.

Oh, by the way, that $100K to $200K you're worried about probably pays for two to four football players annually on the very lower end of the current compensation scale. That leaves 101 scholarship players to go when it comes to making the FB payroll. If I recall correctly, Michigan has 27 varsity sports (25 if you get rid of the gymnastics' teams). What other nine non-revenue sports do you want to get rid of so that Michigan can mimic the Texas model?