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Scarlet Sunrise: Ohio State Athletics leads country in revenue, expenses

IMG_7408by: Andy Backstrom06/15/23andybackstrom
Ohio State fans by Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
Ohio State fans cheer in anticipation of the game-opening kickoff against Michigan during the 2022 season. The Wolverines ended up beating the Buckeyes for the second year in a row. (Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Good morning, Ohio State fans, and welcome to the Scarlet Sunrise. Football will always be our focus, but every day we’ll cover news, notes and analysis from across Buckeyes sports. Join us each morning to get caught up on everything you missed in the world of Buckeyes football, recruiting, basketball and more in Scarlet Sunrise.

Ohio State Athletics leads country in revenue, expenses

Ohio State is at the top of USA TODAY’s revenue and expenses chart for athletic departments that reported information for the 2022 fiscal year. The data is pulled from financial reports that public schools give annually to the NCAA — USA TODAY has access to that data because of a partnership with Syracuse University’s Knight-Newhouse Data project, according to USA TODAY’s Steve Berkowitz.

Of that group, the Buckeyes earned the most operating revenue ($251,615,345) of any athletic department nationally. Texas ($239,290,648 in revenue) was a somewhat distant second.

Here are the top-five athletic departments, in terms of operating revenue in the 2022 fiscal year, according to USA TODAY’s data:

  1. Ohio State – $251,615,345
  2. Texas – $239,290,648
  3. Alabama – $214,365,357
  4. Michigan – $210,652,287
  5. Georgia – $203,048,566

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given Ohio State Athletics’ operating revenue standing, the Buckeyes’ athletic department is also first nationally in operating expenses for the 2022 fiscal year. Here’s the top five for that category, per USA TODAY:

  1. Ohio State – $225,733,418
  2. Texas – $225,153,011
  3. Alabama – $195,881,911
  4. Michigan – $193,559,375
  5. LSU – $192,770,399

The only difference between the two groups: Georgia Athletics is fifth in operating revenue but 10th in operating expenses, while LSU Athletics is sixth in operating revenue but fifth in operating expenses.

Although the combined revenue and spending of the 52 reporting Power Five public schools’ athletic departments was higher than it was in the 2021 fiscal year — which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic — it didn’t match pre-pandemic levels, when taking into account inflation, according to USA TODAY:

“Using federal Consumer Price Index information from June of each year, because most public schools’ fiscal year ends June 30, the 2022 revenue total is lower than an inflation-adjusted total of nearly $7.8 billion for fiscal 2019, the last year not affected by the pandemic.

“Adjusted for inflation, the Power Five schools’ operating expense for 2022, about $7.15 billion, also was below the inflation-adjusted total of just under $7.6 billion for 2019.”

Steve Berkowitz, USA TODAY

As reported by The Columbus Dispatch in January, Ohio State Athletics’ operating revenue for the 2022 fiscal year of approximately a quarter billion dollars is a school record. The previous high was $233.9 million from the 2020 fiscal year.

Ohio State football produced $47.7 million in ticket revenue during the 2021 season, which ended with a thrilling Rose Bowl victory. Like the football program, Ohio State men’s basketball was also handicapped by attendance restrictions during the 2021 fiscal year, but it brought in $5.2 million in ticket sales from the 2022 fiscal year, which included the Buckeyes’ fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in five years (2019-20, when March Madness was canceled because of COVID-19, was the exception in that span).

In addition to Ohio State’s share of the Big Ten’s TV deal with ESPN and FOX, a big bump in donations to the athletic department contributed to the record revenue haul, as reported this past winter by the Dispatch and USA TODAY.

Takeaways from third Ohio State recruiting camp

Ohio State hosted its third recruiting camp of the month Wednesday afternoon at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

The Buckeyes welcomed back a pair of Buckeyes 2024 commits: four-star Sunbury (Ohio) Big Walnut linebacker Garrett Stover and four-star New Palestine (Ind.) offensive lineman Ian Moore.

They were joined by a few other Ohio State targets across the 2024 and 2025 classes.

Lettermen Row was on site and has takeaways from the outing.

RELATED

Taking closer look at state of Buckeyes wide receivers room

For “Wide Receivers Week,” the Lettermen Row crew talked all things Buckeyes wideouts in another video presented by Byers Auto.

How much of Marvin Harrison Jr. will we see in the slot? Will Julian Fleming take that next step? Who is Ohio State’s WR4?

Spencer Holbrook, Tim May and Andy Backstrom discuss all that and more. You can watch below:

Counting down

Buckeyes vs. Indiana: 80 days

Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 164 days

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