College Sports: ohio state football brings in 30.1 million dollars

Football keeps money pouring in at Ohio State
By Dustin Dow
Gannett News Service

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Kevin Graff
Football is the primary money maker for Ohio State athletics.


The numbers are staggering -- so staggering that it's clear that few institutions in the country can compete with Ohio State University's profits.

When it comes to sports at OSU, it's not just about providing athletic opportunities.

It's also about making money.

"It's a requirement. It's not optional," said athletics director Andy Geiger.

That's because the athletics department does not receive financial support from the university and must operate in the black on an annual basis.

Ohio State athletics closed out 2003-04 with a $13.8 million profit, the largest in the Big Ten, although about $6 million of that was the assessed value of a donated piece of land.

Ohio State's actual operating budget last year included a $3.8 million surplus, which went into operating and plant reserves at the end of the year. The department returned $17.6 million to the university general fund, of which $9.9 million was for scholarships.

The football program was the biggest moneymaker, providing $30.1 million for the department. Men's basketball turned a surplus of $7.7 million.

No other sport made money. In fact, all sports except football and men's basketball contributed just 1 percent of the department's revenue.

"We almost totally lean on them," Geiger said of the two sports, football and men's basketball, which drive most university and college athletics departments.

Fund-raising brought in $9.5 million, or 10 percent of the revenue for Ohio State, which uses booster money to pay for scholarships for its 1,012 athletics participants.

The booster group, the Buckeye Club, contributed $7.5 million to the fund-raising total.

Ohio State lost $14.7 million in programs other than football and men's basketball, which is why it is critical that those two sports turn a substantial profit.

But what happens during games on the court or the field is more important than what happens on the balance sheets, Geiger said.

"We sure don't measure success or failure on a financial basis," Geiger said. "Winning and losing is important, but so are other things such as graduation rates."

I know that Penn State is very similar, but I'm not familiar with the numbers.