Ohio
Juggernaut: Ohio State athletics generated almost $280 million in 2023 fiscal year
Ohio State’s athletic department had a record-breaking year in operating revenue in the 2023 fiscal year by generating almost $280 million.
The only athletic program ever to generate more was Oregon four years ago, but that was driven mostly by a $270 million contribution to renovate its track and field stadium.
Ohio State reported revenue of just over $279.5 million with expenses of more than $274.9 million. Ohio State’s revenue total edged out Texas A&M for the most nationally. Ohio State hired Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork last week to succeed the retiring Gene Smith. Michigan, Alabama and Georgia have not made their 2023 reports public.
More: Want a clue about Bill O’Brien running Ohio State’s offense? His Penn State QBs gave raves
A year ago, OSU reported revenue of $251. 6 million for fiscal year 2022 (July 1-June 30).
The new figures are from Ohio State’s annual financial report to the NCAA, which was obtained Tuesday through an open-records request by The Columbus Dispatch and USA TODAY Network in partnership with the Knight-Newhouse Data project at Syracuse University.
More: Ohio State adds 2024 5-star quarterback Julian Sayin through transfer portal from Alabama
Ohio State’s revenue increased $28 million from fiscal year 2022, an increase of about 11%. Most of that came from more football ticket sales and because Ohio State had eight home games in 2022 compared to seven in ’21. Next year’s figure is expected to be lower because OSU had only six home games last season.
Ohio State’s football program generated more than $127 million in fiscal 2023 with a surplus of $55 million. Men’s basketball had revenues over $24 million with a profit of almost $10 million. Those sports subsidized the rest of OSU’s 34 sports, which had costs exceeding revenues by almost $56 million.
Ohio State had a big increase in revenue from royalties, licensing, advertising and sponsorships, going from $30 million the previous year to almost $43 million.
Contributions, however, decreased more than $5 million to under $58 million.
On the expense side, Ohio State reported more than $41 million for athletically-related facilities annual debt service. In the prior fiscal year, that amount was $15.6 million. Ohio State has built several new venues in recent years, including the Covelli Center, the Ty Tucker Tennis Center, a new lacrosse stadium, and the Schumaker Complex that was added on to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
Get more Ohio State football news by listening to our podcasts.
USA Today sports projects editor and reporter Steve Berkowitz contributed to this story.
Out of prison, Indiana’s caviar king back on Ohio River to find fishing holes taken
David Cox, of English, Indiana, says once he began setting his nets again after a two-year prison sentence and a three-year ban on commercial fishing, all of his once-secret spots were taken.
Can you eat fish from the Ohio River?
In 1975, future presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, bet 20 pounds of New England cod that the Red Sox would defeat the Reds in the World Series. If things went south for Boston, Ohio governor James Rhodes promised to send Dukakis 10 pounds of Lake Erie perch and 10 pounds of Ohio River catfish. The Reds ended up winning and the cod was sent to the Convalescent Home for Children, in Cincinnati.
At the time, people were still eating catfish from the Ohio without too much concern. The fish were also served at several restaurants along the river.
There were warnings in 1977
But two years later, in 1977, The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission released the results of a study of contaminants found in the tissues of Ohio River fish. They warned anglers in cities such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Wheeling and Gallipolis that man-made chemicals known as PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, had been discovered in the river fish. Later, high concentrations of mercury were discovered in the fish, too.
Thanks to the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the environmental regulations that followed, the river is now cleaner than it was in the seventies. And it’s still teeming with a variety of fish, including catfish, striped bass, drum and black bass, among other species.
But even though PCBs were banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979, they are still found in fish, since they remain in the sediment in the bottom of the river. “Organisms live in the sediment and fish feed on them,” Rich Cogen, the executive director of the Ohio River Foundation told The Enquirer. Mercury is also a big problem, according to Cogen.
So the question is: Can you eat fish caught in the Ohio River?
The short answer is yes. But it depends on what species you are eating and where along the river you caught it.
There are also very strict limitations on how frequently you should eat them, according to the web site for the Ohio Sport Fish Consumption Advisory, part of the Ohio Department of Health.
In areas of the river between the Belleville Lock, located 204 miles downstream from the river’s origins in Pittsburgh, to the Indiana border, the advisory agency currently recommends consuming Ohio River fish no more than once a month max. That area includes Adams, Brown, Clermont, Gallia, Hamilton, Lawrence, Meigs and Scioto counties.
Here’s where to check
Recommendations change throughout the year, but you can keep up by visiting the Ohio Department of Health’s Sport Fish Consumption Advisory page, which provides updated information on when certain fish, usually bottom feeders such as carp, are deemed too dangerous to eat at all.
Here’s who should take a pass on Ohio River fish
The agency also warns that people who are more likely to have health effects from eating contaminated fish, includingchildren younger than 15 years old, pregnant women and women who are planning to become pregnant to avoid Ohio River fish altogether.
Just because you have to limit the amount of fish you eat, doesn’t mean the river is a bad place for fishing, as long as you limit your intake or do catch-and-release fishing. Just make sure you have a proper fishing license before casting your line.
Have a question for Just Askin’? Email us.
The Just Askin’ series aims to answer the questions that no one seems to have an answer for, except maybe Google.
Do you have a question you want answered? Send it to us at justaskin@enquirer.com, ideally with Just Askin’ in the subject line.
It isn’t over until it’s over. That’s the case for both the UCLA Bruins football program recruiting and for quarterback Brady Edmunds. Edmunds is currently committed to head to Ohio State but he took a visit from UCLA offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy earlier this week.
Kennedy met Edmunds on Thursday despite the fact that the quarterback has been committed to the Buckeyes since December of 2024 but could the UCLA Bruins be making a run at flipping the quarterback?
Edmunds has only had an official visit with Ohio State but could UCLA heave a heat check on the 6’5” quarterback? New UCLA head coach Bob Chesney is off to an unbelievable start to his recruiting with the Bruins and flipping a recruit of Edmunds’ caliber would be his most impressive move yet.
247 Sports has Edmunds as the No. 16 quarterback in the class, which would give UCLA a clear predecessor for Nico Iamaleava whenever the Bruins current starting quarterback decides to head to the professional level.
It’d be a full circle moment for the Bruins, as Edmunds was originally recruited to Ohio State by former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, who bailed on UCLA to go run the Buckeyes offense. Ohio State is a great spot for a developing quarterback, as the Buckeyes produce tons of NFL talent, especially at the wide receiver position, which would help Edmunds put up some gaudy numbers in Columbus.
Chesney and the Bruins have geography on their side, Edmunds attends Huntington Beach High School in Southern California, which could potentially become a factor if Edmunds views UCLA as a program on the rise that’d be much closer to his friends and family than out in Ohio.
Time will tell if Kennedy’s visit will make a difference but UCLA’s recruiting has made waves in the first offseason under Chesney and the new regime.
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