U-M's athletic department projects $2.5M surplus for fiscal 2019

(Photo: Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press)The University of Michigan athletic department projects a $2.5 million surplus for the 2019 fiscal year.

Athletic director Warde Manuel presented the department’s operating budget for the 2019 fiscal year at Thursday’s Board of Regents meeting. The department projected the surplus based on operating revenues of $187.8 million and operating expenses of $185.3 million.

The university also announced that based on preliminary results, it expects to finish the 2018 fiscal year with a surplus of approximately $2.5 million, which is well above the projection of $2.0 million that was given last year. The department stated this year's “favorable operating outcome”…