The Buckeyes’ playing only six home football games in the fall of 2023 had the greatest impact on earnings as ticket sales were down nearly $15 million the previous year.
Contributions were also down more than $5 million while the department gained an extra $2.9 million from Big Ten media rights (which totaled more than $52 million) as the conference began a series of new broadcasting deals with Fox, NBC and CBS.
Revenue from royalties, licensing, advertisements and sponsorships also dipped $8.7 million.
One of the main culprits in costs increase was severance pay, which rose from $162,335 to $9.2 million. Most of that ($8.5 million) went to men’s basketball after Chris Holtmann was fired with four years remaining on his contract.
Ohio State also spent more than $54 million on coaching salaries, an increase of $9 million from the previous year. About $28 million of that went to football.
In a news release, first-year director of athletics Ross Bjork said the school remains committed to supporting its student-athletes in an “era of rapid transformation in intercollegiate athletics.”
“We remain dedicated to supporting them in the classroom, in the training room and on the field of play as they compete for and win national, conference and individual event championships,” said Bjork, who took over from the retiring Gene Smith last August.
“While last year’s budget impact is not ideal and there were unique circumstances at play, we have a robust expense and revenue plan that has been implemented and have made great progress in this ever-changing landscape of college athletics.”
Overall, the department reported $254,933,664 in revenue, down from a record $279,549,337 revenue in the 2023 fiscal year.
Expenses came in at $292,670,315, but the department reported it would be able to cover the shortfall via past earnings, reserve funds and anticipated future earnings.
Aside from the value of the media rights deals continuing to increase, the department anticipates a windfall from the football team winning the 2024 national championship last week. That brought with it payouts for advancing in the expanded 12-team playoff as well as expected increases in merchandise sales.
Ohio State also hosted eight home football games last fall.
“We will make sure we operate with a balanced budget moving forward,” Bjork said in the release.
Ohio State athletics reported a profit of $4.6 million in 2023 and made more than $25 million in 2022 after suffering a $63.6 million loss in 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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