Michigan's Jim Harbaugh Calls for Student-Athletes to Profit from Revenue Sharing

Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh used his Monday press conference to push for more equitable revenue sharing with student-athletes, especially in today's college football landscape with massive television deals and conference realignment.

"I want them to be treated with the respect and dignity that they deserve," Harbaugh said (h/t Tom VanHaaren of ESPN). "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."

College football and sports, in general, have certainly seen a handful of radical changes in the last few years, including the ability for student-athletes to make money off their name, image and likeness.

Yet Harbaugh, who pointed out he brought up revenue sharing in 2020 and in 2022 as well, said "the current status quo is unacceptable and won't survive" while pushing for additional profits for the athletes.

"We all should be about diversity, equity and inclusion. I'm calling for a system that is fair, equitable and benefits all involved," he said. "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."

Television deals and money-making opportunities for schools and programs in different conferences have been at the center of the realignment circus that has dominated college football discourse this offseason.

USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington are joining Harbaugh's Wolverines in the Big Ten after the 2023 season, while Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah are going to the Big 12. The SEC will add Texas and Oklahoma on the same timeline, while the Pac-12 may no longer even exist in the near future.

The media deals for the Big Ten and SEC are far more profitable for the member schools than others, which surely drove much of the realignment process.

And Harbaugh wants some of those millions going to the players who are the ones who make those television deals possible.

His comments come ahead of his three-game suspension to start the 2023 season. While Michigan self-imposed the punishment because of recruiting violations, the situation remains under investigation by the NCAA.

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports reported earlier this month that Harbaugh and the NCAA agreed to a "tentative resolution" of a four-game suspension, but those discussions broke down.

Michigan starts its season against East Carolina on Saturday.