It was only a few years ago that an athletic department crossing the $100 million mark in annual revenue was cause for a little eyebrow raising and at least some celebrating among senior staff members at a handful of schools. Now that nine-figure mark is fairly common place among major Power Five programs.
The Rubicon has been moved as a result and, thanks to USA Today’s work in obtaining the NCAA financial statements for the 2018 fiscal year, we now know there are three programs to hit the next benchmark in the inevitable march toward higher revenues as Texas, Texas A&M and now Ohio State are all new members of the $200 million club.
The Buckeyes were the big gainer this past year, showing a $20 million jump in revenue to $205.6 million total and a whopping $30 million increase in expenses (mostly from coaches salaries and buyouts) to $203.8 million. USA Today makes a particular note of what is fueling the hefty sums for OSU: media rights, with a distribution from the Big Ten going from $25.6 million to $42.6 million. Ticket sales were also a big driver as the team went 13-1 and won the Rose Bowl in Urban Meyer’s final season as head coach.
Every thing is bigger in the state of Texas however as Ohio State trailed both the Longhorns and Aggies in revenue, expenses and profit. A&M posted $212.4 million in revenue per the report and turned a nearly $3 million profit in athletics when all was said and done. Those figures checked in just behind their rival up the highway as UT reported an impressive $219 million in operating revenue against expenses of $206.5 million.
Based on the way the numbers keep going up, up and away -- with all three schools adding well over $50 million to both sides of the ledger in the past three years -- it will only be a matter of time before we hit the $250 million and $300 million plateaus.
Of course, it helps tremendously when labor costs, such as they are, make up less than a rounding error.