Ohio State reveals which sports will be part of revenue share

As the window for revenue share with athletes fast approaches, schools are beginning to announce their plans. Ohio State is the latest to do so, outlining its vision via athletics director Ross Bjork on Thursday.

According to Spencer Holbrook of Lettermen Row, Bjork said that the Buckeyes will use revenue share for four sports. Those sports will be football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and women’s volleyball, with hopes to expand to other sports down the road.

That is pretty close to what many in the sport expect to be the norm going forward, though the exact splits in terms of percentages between the sports remain to be seen. Still, most guidance has suggested a four-way split.

That’s not the path everyone is taking, though. Oklahoma will split between six sports, for example.

Speaking at a Board of Regents meeting on Thursday, Oklahoma athletics director Joe Castiglione said that six sports will be a part of the program’s revenue share: football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, softball and women’s gymnastics.

Each of those programs has had some major success in the past for Oklahoma, so none are terribly surprising to see on the list. That said, the overall number does raise an eyebrow. Many programs won’t have that many receiving revenue share aid, Ohio State among them, at least initially.

In fact, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark recently opened up on plans in his conference. And he provided a model for what things might look like in the league.

Brett Yormark on Big 12 revenue share

There’s no set standard for how schools might distribute the money, though there are some currently favored models. But Yormark made it clear he’s leaving things up to the individual schools.

“We’re going to let our schools determine how they want to rev share,” Yormark said on The Triple Option podcast. “It’s going to be a school-by-school decision. Obviously, the revenue-generating sports are going to receive the bulk of it. OK? But it really will be up to the schools in how they distribute what we call a permissive cap up to $20.5 million in Year 1.”

The cap on revenue share has been decided by the House settlement. It will adjust in the years to come, but for now, there’s a firm starting line.

How schools operate from there will vary. Yormark outlined one of the most popular distribution models.

“Many schools have been very public already about how they’re going to distribute it,” Yormark said of revenue share. “One of the models out there, not to say it’s right or wrong, is 75, 15, 5 and 5. 75% to football, 15% to men’s basketball, 5% to women’s basketball and 5% to other Olympic sports. But there are probably going to be variations of that model and it’ll be determined by the schools themselves.”

Keep in mind, too, that this is only the start of revenue share. The entire concept figures to evolve in the coming years as schools get a handle on what works best. And at least Oklahoma will have more programs involved in it than what Yormark outlined.