Time for a crash course in finance if you are among the curmudgeons stuck in the days of Astroturf and a track in Ohio Stadium & detest the Blackout:
Nike is contracted to pay OSU 12.5 percent of net sales on products it has the exclusive rights for. This includes all “authentic competition apparel,” such as jerseys. Royalty for all other OSU products Nike sells is set at 11 percent. OSU is guaranteed an annual minimum payment of $200,000 for the first seven years and $300,000 for the extended four years.
Each payment so far, however, has exceeded that minimum.
From 2007 to 2012, Nike grossed an average of $8.8 million annually on its sale of OSU merchandise, paying OSU an annual average of about $1.1 million.
While other Nike contracts are currently more lucrative (see: TUN), the licensing revenue stream is one that will continue to be relied upon to support one of the nation's largest athletic departments, with an operating budget north of $114M and still growing due to the unknown future of COA stipends for all scholarship athletes, not just football.