Spartans Mobile phone network could kick 7% of payments to MSU Athletics

The big deal for Michigan State is that this adds another revenue stream to a department that wants to strengthen its coffers. It was only a year ago that Michigan State made the switch from former athletic director Alan Haller to current AD J Batt, who took over last June with his skills in fundraising and revenue generation serving as key factors in his selection. The move came early in the tenure of President Kevin Guskiewicz, who took over in March 2024 and also introduced a new provost in Laura Lee McIntyre at the same time MSU hired Batt.

Greg Williams, left, speaks during an event announcing his $401 million donation to Michigan State University on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. MSU President KevinÊGuskiewicz, center, and athletic director J Batt join Williams on the stage.

Batt inherited an athletic department with a budget problem. A debt report obtained by The Detroit News showed Michigan State’s athletic department to be $124 million in debt as of May 31, 2025. Approximately $28.7 million of that came in the form of bonds, $20 million stood as commercial paper and $75.3 million fell under internal loans.

That debt report did not include recent expenses including a buyout for Haller, nor that of former football coach Jonathan Smith, who was axed at the end of the 2025 season and replaced by Pat Fitzgerald on a minimum five-year, $30 million contract. That budget report did not include a $12 million internal loan to help fund revenue share with student athletes in the 2025-26 seasons, which came as part of a $192 million budget approved by Michigan State’s Board of Trustees last June.

A year in, Batt has made a few splashes to strengthen Michigan State’s wallet, procuring a $401 million commitment from donors Greg and Dawn Williams — of Acrisure wealth — in December that seeded both the FOR SPARTA fundraising initiative and set aside $100 million for the establishment of Spartan Ventures, a third-party affiliate created to open up more revenue streams that weren’t accessible under a more rigid structure of a public university department. Spartan Ventures is planned to launch July 1, the start of the next fiscal year.

Add phone plans to the list of revenue tools Michigan State is adding to its toolbelt.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: New Spartans Mobile phone network could help boost MSU Athletics