By Dylan Callaghan-Croley

The Ohio State University is mostly known for its college football program, one of the best and most historic in the world of college football.

After all, the Buckeyes are one of the most successful college football programs of all time. After all, the Buckeyes have a 953-331-53 record all-time, have eight claimed national championships, seven unclaimed national championships, and when they haven’t finished first in the country, they’ve finished second an additional five times.

They’ve also won an incredible 41 conference titles in program history, including 39 in the Big Ten. Add on having 95 consensus All-Americans and six players who have earned seven Heisman Trophies, and it’s safe to say only a few schools can match the legacy that Ohio State has had on the gridiron. Get in the game and let your winning spirit shine! Join the exhilarating world of the Buckeyes and dive into the excitement of exploring Ohio sportsbooks promos. It’s your chance to score big wins 

That being said, thanks in part to the Ohio State football program, the Ohio State University also has had the opportunity to have an incredibly immense budget each academic year.

According to the university’s Fiscal Year 2023 financial plan, the consolidated budget for the year goes well into the eight billion dollar range. Ohio State in 2023 projects an incredible $8.8 billion in revenue and $8.2 billion in spending, meaning they’re projecting to make $600 million this fiscal year.

The football program will help the Ohio State athletic department be responsible for approximately 2.8% of that total revenue. This doesn’t seem like much, but it’s quite impressive when talking about $8,800,000,000 in revenue.  Last year, Ohio State’s athletic department had the most revenue of any university in the country, bringing in $251,6155,345, according to USA Today. That’s $12 million more than the next closest university which is the University of Texas at $239,290,648. Only five universities in total generated $200 million or more in revenue last season. Unshockingly, they all have historic college football programs, with Alabama, Michigan, and Georgia joining Ohio State and Texas.

Notably, college football programs at major universities often sustain the university’s athletic departments as a whole. In college athletics, there is what is called “revenue sports” These sports, for the most part, are football and men’s basketball, then depending on where you are in the country, sports such as ice hockey and baseball could also be considered revenue sports, but this is far from universal like football and men’s basketball nearly all.

In 2022, Ohio State football garnered over $47 million in ticket sales alone, nearly 18% of the athletic department’s entire revenue. The program brought in an additional $62 million last year in other revenue streams, totaling over $109 million in revenue. Most of the athletic department’s remaining revenue stream is through sponsorships and other off-the-field-of-play revenue streams through basketball and wrestling, both contributed to Ohio State’s total revenue quite nicely as well.

Additionally, the university receives $1 billion yearly in tuition and fees from its student body. A popular university both for in and out-of-state students, tuition runs $11,936 for in-state students, while out-of-state students have to pay $35,000. The university has 47,000 undergraduate students and additional 11,000 graduate students.  They also receive $494 million from the state, $408 total in auxiliary revenue, $4.5 billion from the school’s health system, and $2.0 billion from other revenue sources, which includes $576 million through fundraising.

We’ve talked about the ways Ohio State has brought in an immense $8.7 billion in revenue, but how is the university spending $8.1 billion?

The biggest stream of expenditures comes from the university’s health system, which isn’t shocking. The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, only one of a handful of centers throughout the state, is ranked nationally as one of the ten best in adult specialties. With that it’s not surprising that it costs the university nearly $4.0 billion in expenditures each year. The university also pays $1.7 billion in employee salaries though their annual payroll for all employees is well into the $3 billion range. The university spends another $1.7 in what is considered “other” expenses. Finally, they pay out $459 million in employee benefits per year and $496 million in financial aid per year.

On top of its budget, Ohio State also has one of the biggest endowments in the country for public schools. Their $6.961 billion endowment in 2022 was the sixth highest in the country, only behind the University of Texas System, Texas A&M University System, University of Michigan, University of California System, and the University of Virginia.

Overall, Ohio State University is world-renowned for many reasons. While its football program grabs most of the spotlight, it is a university diverse in culture and success. The university will remain one of the most successful in the United States, creating a winning combination of world-class athletics and world-class academics, helping it earn the honor as one of the top 50 universities nationally, according to U.S.. news and World Report.