The Ohio State Buckeyes may have won the College Football Playoff national championship this season, but they got some rather unfortunate financial news this week.
According to financial documents obtained by Joey Kaufman of The Columbus Dispatch, the Ohio State athletic department saw a $38 million deficit during the most recent fiscal year.
The Ohio State athletic department spent a record $292.7 million from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024 while bringing in just $254.9 million in total operating revenues over the period – a $24.6 million decrease from the previous year.
While this is certainly not good news for Ohio State, it also wasn’t exactly unexpected.
In a statement on Monday, Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork cited “unique circumstances” for why the athletic department suffered such losses and promised a “balanced budget” going forward.
“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,” Bjork said in a statement issued as part of a news release.
“We will make sure we operate with a balanced budget moving forward,” Bjork continued.
We’ll have to see how Ohio State plans to adjust its budget going forward.
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