Buckeye Sports Budget Biggest

[bgsufn]

Check this story in the Blade (actually the WSJ).

At $109,382,222 for the current year, Ohio State's athletic budget is the largest in the nation and the biggest in the history of college sports. It allows the school to field 36 varsity teams in everything from baseball and soccer to riflery and synchronized swimming. The school spends about $110,000 on each of its 980 athletes, which is triple the amount the university spends per undergraduate on education.

Could you imagine how BG would be if we had this kind of budget?

[Falconboy]

Check this story in the Blade (actually the WSJ).

At $109,382,222 for the current year, Ohio State's athletic budget is the largest in the nation and the biggest in the history of college sports. It allows the school to field 36 varsity teams in everything from baseball and soccer to riflery and synchronized swimming. The school spends about $110,000 on each of its 980 athletes, which is triple the amount the university spends per undergraduate on education.

Could you imagine how BG would be if we had this kind of budget?

Which I guess explains their sucktitude on the graduation of their athletes. Are you sure 109,382,222 is right. 100 mill? What percentage of that is alum donations and just regular school income?

[bgsufn]

Which I guess explains their sucktitude on the graduation of their athletes. Are you sure 109,382,222 is right. 100 mill? What percentage of that is alum donations and just regular school income?

Well, I'm inclined to believe that the WSJ checked things out pretty well

The article goes more in-depth about the actual breakdowns.

[Jamie Gillis]

The article is interesting, but I think the author goes way overboard trying to imply conclusions without truly examining the issues.

If OSU had half (or even one-tenth) the athletic department budget, would that have saved a single manufacturing job in Ohio this decade? Where's the linkage...the cause and effect? If there is no relationship between the two, why even bring it up?

He also throws out the ratio of $$ per athlete to $$ per undergraduate without spelling out what precisely the linkage is. As he states later, OSU's department is completely self-sustaining, so it's not directly drawing funds away from the undergraduate students. Regarding, the actual money spent per undergraduate student at Ohio State, how does it compare with other Ohio public universities? With the other Big Ten universities? With whatever group of universities OSU benchmarks itself against?

As for private donations, it's my understanding that there's never been a proven linkage positive or negative between athletic success and academic donations. People who donate to the history department don't reallocate those donations to athletics because of a winning team. How is OSU's overall fundraising compared to the 3 groups of schools I listed above? Does a greater portion of donations at Ohio State go to athletics than at say Michigan, Penn State UCLA or Texas?

The article raises a lot of interesting questions about the behemoth program down in Columbus. I just don't think the writer does a very good job of really, deeply examining the issue.

[Falconfreak90]

They're called the Buck$ for a reason. I believe BG's athletic budget is somewhere around $15 Million...

[jmillerbg]

I thought the most interesting stat in that article was that the Buckeye Club has 3,700 members - which is WAY smaller than I would have guessed it would be. It makes me wonder if it was a misprint. I realize the minimum payment for the Buckeye Club is probably much larger than the Falcon Club, but that number still seems small to me.

[Jamie Gillis]

I thought the most interesting stat in that article was that the Buckeye Club has 3,700 members - which is WAY smaller than I would have guessed it would be. It makes me wonder if it was a misprint. I realize the minimum payment for the Buckeye Club is probably much larger than the Falcon Club, but that number still seems small to me.

I've always heard that you can donate to an academic department at Ohio State, and it will count the same as an athletic donation in getting you on the season ticket list. Wonder if that has anything to do with it. Fewer alumni are giving to the athletic department just to get season tickets.

[FalconTurf]

Very surprising that only 3,700 members would join at these levels until you think how much you need to shell out for tickets, parking and all the other expenses of being a season ticket holder. As a BG ticket holder I have never spent over $150 for my wife and I for home games and parking for the season. Another $100 minimun to the Falcon Club gets us the great perk of a few brews before and at halftime of the home games. $250 may barely cover 2 games at Ohio State, if your lucky, without the hospitality tent in the endzone. Another reason to love BG and continue to raise my donation to the Falcon Club annually.
http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/fls/17 ... front.html
Buckeye Club
Giving Levels
Horseshoe Level
New - $100-$1,499
Renewing - $100-$1,249

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Scarlet & Gray Level
$1,500-$2,499

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Big Ten Champions Level
$2,500-$4,999

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National Champions Level
$5,000-$9,999

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Scholar Athlete Level
$10,000 or more