Ohio State’s Football Budget

Last Updated on December 2, 2020

To kickoff Ohio State Week on the BusinessofCollegeSports.com I want to start by looking at the line item football budget. Check back each day this week for more Ohio State numbers, including recruiting expenses and overall athletic department budget. 

Below you’ll see numbers for both the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years. These numbers were obtained directly from the Ohio State University athletic department. Please note this 2011-2012 budget was prepared before the events of this past weekend, so you can expect some changes, especially with regards to coaches salaries. Also, decisions on raises for all personnel have not yet been made.

One thing to note as you take a look is that Ohio State has 7 home games in 2011-2012 compared to 8 in 2010-2011. Interesting to see how that impacts the overall budget both in terms of revenue and expense. Be sure to read after the chart to see how some of these numbers fit into the athletic budget as a whole.

	Budget		Budget
	2010-2011		2011-2012
REVENUE
Visitor Guarantees	-7,148,050		-5,923,040
Concessions	1,960,000		1,715,000
Season Tix – Fac/Staff	6,868,000		6,009,500
Season Tix – Students	5,002,500		4,785,000
Public Ticket Sales	30,310,760		25,605,040
Postage & Handling	0		0
Television	10,700,000		11,415,300
Broadcasting	1,296,050		1,246,050
Guarantees	2,850,000		3,909,000
Miscellaneous	0		0
Revenue Total	51,839,260		48,761,850
EXPENSES
A & P	3,447,937		3,707,931
CCS	97,455		109,537
Specials	331,800		322,000
Grad Students	29,743		45,844
Additional Pay	0		0
Student Wages	32,000		32,000
Benefits	1,208,582		1,383,456
Benefits Fee Waivers	48,000		72,000
Clinical Supplies	112,625		47,500
General Supplies	25,000		25,000
Video Supplies	18,000		21,150
Clothing & Equipment	173,400		173,400
Postage	35,000		35,000
Communications	69,800		69,800
Equipment Rep & Maint	53,000		59,300
Building & Grounds Rep & Mnt	25,000		25,000
Equipment Rental	6,000		8,945
Space Rental	4,500		6,300
Copy Services	27,500		27,500
Photo Services	25,000		25,000
Printing	51,000		51,000
Recruiting	484,000		438,500
Misc Travel	129,500		129,500
Team Travel	750,310		890,735
Purchased Services	85,250		85,250
Game Day Expenses	1,120,000		925,000
Dues & Memberships	1,800		1,800
Subscriptions	2,200		2,200
Meals	470,290		462,421
Banquet	29,000		30,875
Lodging	204,328		224,084
Shipping & freight	0		0
Officials	118,650		104,450
Grant In Aid	3,307,000		3,413,000
Capital Equipment	51,860		84,658
Expense Total	12,575,530		13,040,136
Net Profit	39,263,730		35,721,714

A few of the categories probably need clarification. A&P is Administration and Professional staff salaries. This category includes the salaries of all coaches. CCS is pay for Civil Service Personnel, who are support staff belonging to a union. Specials can cover a number of items from special event staff to incentives that may be paid to coaches as a part of their contract.

I think it’s interesting to see all the expenses associated with running a top-notch football program like Ohio State’s. I won’t comment on many of the categories, but I wanted to let you see them all. As I noted earlier, Ohio State has one less home game for the 2011 season. Amazing what a difference one game can make. The loss of that one home game costs Ohio State roughly $3 million!

As you can see, the two biggest expenses are salaries and grants-in-aid (payments back to the university for scholarships). Administrative and Professional salaries for football account for 18% of all salaries in that category in the athletic department, and grants-in-aid for football are nearly 22% of all aid granted by the athletic department. Football has the greatest number of athletes participating, so this should be no surprise. 

I often hear fans lament the great amount of money spent on football compared to other sports. However, football is the one sport where you can likely spend more to make more. Revenue from football accounts for 73% of all revenue generated by individual sports at Ohio State, and football is one of only two sports who turn a net profit. Later this week I’ll show you how the profit generated by football supports the athletic department as a whole, proving the investment in football is a wise one. Until then, you can read my previous piece on how “other sports” are funded.

Big TenfinanceOhio State