Some of you love to point out the notion that most college athletic programs lose money, because that’s what they tell us. When some (like me) push back and note there’s plenty of creative bookkeeping going on, the typical response is to scoff.
Maybe you can explain that to Ohio State’s athletic director.
Ohio State’s athletic department reported an operating deficit of $10 million last year, the first time in a decade that the department ended the fiscal year in the red.
But university administrators contend that the size of the budget deficit is significantly smaller — a total shortfall of less than $1 million — than what is listed on the report it must annually submit to the NCAA…
“There’s no way I would be sitting here with 36 sports if we had a $10 million deficit,” Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said. “It just wouldn’t happen. I’d be dropping sports and ticket prices would go up.”
Smith was not taking either step, he added.
Citing an internal management report, school administrators said the 2019 deficit sat at only $624,359, with $210.3 million in total revenues and $210.9 million in expenses.
A nine-million dollar difference — that’s just what they admit to. Think about the stuff they don’t mention.
When the day comes that FCS programs stop trying to move up in class, maybe they’ll be more to the everybody’s broke talk. In the meantime, grain of salt, please.
