Ohio State athletics set a revenue record during the 2023 fiscal year for the second year in a row.
The athletic department's revenue for the 2023 fiscal year was $279,549,337, an increase of nearly $28 million from FY22, when it set its previous record for revenue with $251,615,345.
Ohio State also spent a record amount of money during the 2023 fiscal year, which ran from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023. Its $274,948,554 in expenses were nearly $50 million more than during the 2022 fiscal year when OSU spent $225,733,418 on athletics. Athletic facilities debt accounted for $45.3 million of expenses “as the university made additional principal payments to new facilities including the Schumaker Complex, Covelli Center and other projects to reduce payments in the future,” according to an Ohio State news release.
Leading sources of revenue for Ohio State during the 2023 fiscal year included $73,386,886 in ticket sales, $57,804,784 in contributions from donors, $49,796,025 in media rights payments and $42,832,059 in royalties, licensing, advertisement and sponsorship.
“Ohio State athletics remain on a rock-solid foundation thanks to the tremendous support from our fans, students and alumni,” Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said in a statement. “They continue to show up, tune in and support our student-athletes, coaches and staff at our fields, stadiums and arenas.”
Ohio State’s largest expenses for the 2023 fiscal year included $45,252,753 in coaching salaries, $45,514,112 in support staff salaries, $45,347,778 in facility debt, $32,308,788 in direct overhead and administrative expenses and $14,182,170 in team travel.
The Ohio State football team directly accounted for $127,355,182 of the athletic department’s revenues, including $64,342,912 in ticket sales and $37,155,319 in media rights. Men’s basketball brought in $24,162,936 in revenue, including $12,640,706 in media rights and $4,739,605 in ticket sales.
Those two sports also had the highest expenses as Ohio State spent $72,382,343 on the football program and $14,491,760 on the men’s basketball program. Women’s basketball had the third-highest expenses ($6,560,262).
Wrestling ($1,552,813), women’s basketball ($1,277,841) and men’s hockey ($1,264,139) each generated more than $1 million in revenue each for the athletic department. The football and men’s basketball programs, however, were the only programs to generate more revenue for Ohio State than expenses for the 2023 fiscal year.
