The Ohio State athletic department is projecting a $130 million loss in athletics revenue following the postponement of fall sports by the Big Ten.
The projection was taken from recently released materials and an agenda for a board of trustees meeting scheduled for this Thursday. In that meeting, the coming fiscal year’s budget is up for approval, and there will likely have to be some hard decisions made. This is coming off a season in which OSU finished in the red.
The loss in revenue can be attributed to the obvious. The cancellation of the falls sports season projects a sharp drop in revenue from ticket sales, media rights, and other revenue streams that come from having a fall season at a big moneymaker like Ohio State.
The projection does not take into account any revenue that could be made up if the Big Ten and its members follow through with a winter or spring season. Regardless, anything that takes shape will likely dwarf what OSU normally pulls in in a normal year.
Ohio State is projecting a loss of $130 million in athletics revenue for the 2021 fiscal year following the cancelation of the fall sports season: https://t.co/oHvjlFMiPS
— Joey Kaufman (@joeyrkaufman) August 24, 2020
No further details were provided on how Ohio State will deal with such a significant downfall, but there is sure to be some that emerge after the budget is approved. You have to figure cost-cutting measures will have to be taken into account somewhere.
Stay tuned.