Ohio State Athletics Posts Record Revenue With $336 Million FY2025, No NIL Institutional Share

Ohio State athletics posted record revenue numbers for fiscal year 2025 (FY2025) with $336 million in revenue, surpassing the previous record of $280 million that was set in fiscal year 2023. The school also reported $0 in “Institutional NIL Revenue Share.”

The Buckeyes also operated in a $15.7 million surplus as Ohio State had $320 million in expenses. The surplus was over three times that of fellow Big Ten school Wisconsin who operated in a $4.3 million surplus.

Total Revenues By Sport

Unsurprisingly, football accounted for 81.77% of sport-specific revenues with $160.6 million and was followed by men’s basketball who brought in $23.5 million in revenues. Four other sports brought in more than $1 million in revenues: women’s basketball ($1.5 million), wrestling ($1.3 million), men’s ice hockey ($1.3 million), and men’s lacrosse ($1.2 million).

Ticket sales were the largest single source of revenues as they accounted for $81.7 million in revenues. This marked an uptick from FY2024’s $58.8 million in ticket sales.

$67.0 million of that total came from the football program which notably hosted eight home games during FY2025 in the regular season, and the program also hosted Tennessee in the first round of the College Football Playoff. Ohio State went on to win the National Title, its 9th in program history. FY2024 only had six home football games.

Total Surplus/Deficit By Sport

In addition to bringing in the most revenue, football and men’s basketball were the only two programs that operated in a surplus. Football had $92.4 million in expenses, resulting in a $68.2 surplus. Men’s basketball had $14.6 million in expenses, resulting in a $8.9 million surplus. All other sports operating in a deficit, with rifle, men’s golf, and women’s golf operating in a deficit that was less than $1 million. Women’s basketball ($5.6 million deficit), women’s ice hockey ($3.8 million deficit), and men’s ice hockey ($3.4 million deficit) had the largest deficits. Women’s basketball and women’s ice hockey were notably in the top three as well at Wisconsin.

Swimming and Diving Revenues/Expenses

Men’s and women’s swimming both operating in deficits larger than $3 million, landing them both in the bottom 25th percentile. Women’s swimming and diving operated in a $3.3 million deficit, and men’s swimming and diving operated in a $3.1 million deficit.

The difference in the men’s and women’s programs can largely be attributed to the difference in revenues. Men’s swimming and diving is said to have generated $434,138 in revenues while women’s swimming and diving is said to have only generated $182,922 in revenues.

With combined programs, it often becomes difficult on how to allocate specific revenues/expenses. For example, in the chart below that includes all revenues for the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs, the men’s team earned $133,265 in “sports camp revenues” while the women’s team earned $0. The same can be seen with “sports camp expenses,” in the detailed report, which gives $99,924 in expenses to the men’s program and $10 in expenses to the women’s program.

Overall Revenue/Expense Trends For Ohio State Athletics (Last 5 Years)

Ohio State athletics has been in a deficit twice in the last five years. In FY2021, the department operated in a $64.7 million deficit, largely attributed to COVID-19. The second deficit was in FY2024 when the department operated in a $40.2 million deficit. In the last five years, the department has totaled a deficit of $62.9 million.

Ohio State’s Full FY 2025 Report

• See page 52 for Total Operating Revenues
• See page 91 for Total Operating Expenses

A few items to note:

• NCAA athletic departments typically have their fiscal years run from July 1 of the year prior to June 30 of the reported year (ie: July 1, 2024-June 30, 2025)