Ohio State had $292.3 million in total operating expenses during its 2024 fiscal year, according to its new annual revenue-and-expenses report to the NCAA. Not adjusting for inflation, the total is the largest single-year spending total for a Division I public school since the NCAA began its current reporting system in 2005.
The new expense total, for a period ending June 30, 2024, was accompanied by an operating deficit of $37.7 million.
However, that is at least partially a result of a $14.6 million decline in ticket revenue that resulted from Ohio State having six home football games during the 2023 season after having eight in the 2022 season, and from more $8.5 million in severance costs connected to the school’s firing of men’s basketball head coach Chris Holtmann in February 2024.
Ohio State also had the previous top single-year operating spending total, reporting $274.9 million in fiscal 2023. So, the new total represents an increase of just over 6%. Both years’ figures are based on the school reporting that it sponsors 35 teams, one of the largest athletics programs among Division I public schools.
Texas — which reported 21 teams in 2023 — had $232.3 million in operating expenses that year, which had been the second-largest total prior to this year. Like many other schools, as of Monday afternoon, Texas had not yet made public its 2024 financial report.
REPORT CARD: College football season grades for all 134 teams
LOOKING AHEAD: Our way-too-early college football Top 25 for 2025
The USA TODAY Network’s Columbus Dispatch obtained Ohio State’s new report Monday through an open-records request. The long-term data have been gathered in partnership with the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database at Syracuse University.
Among other schools’ fiscal 2024 operating spending figures collected so far, Alabama reported $262.8 million and Texas A&M $243.7 million.
While it is no longer unusual for schools to set revenue and/or spending records almost annually, Ohio State’s 2024 total continued its overall recent trend of spending increases. Adjusting for inflation as June 2024, Ohio State reported spending $254.1 million in fiscal 2018.
“In this new era of rapid transformation in intercollegiate athletics, our commitment to our student-athletes is unwavering,” athletics director Ross Bjork said in statement released by the university. “We remain dedicated to supporting them in the classroom, in the training room and on the field of play as they compete for and win national, conference and individual event championships. While last year’s budget impact is not ideal and there were unique circumstances at play, we have a robust expense and revenue plan that has been implemented and have made great progress in this ever-changing landscape of college athletics. We will make sure we operate with a balanced budget moving forward.”
On a dollar basis in fiscal 2024, in addition to the ticket revenue, Ohio State also had substantial year-over-year declines in 2024 in royalties, licensing and sponsorship ($8.7 million) and in contributions ($5.3 million).
On the expense side, it also had notable increases in coaching compensation ($9 million) and administrative and support staff compensation ($5.4 million).
