As player pay reaches new heights, how will Ohio State navigate uncharted waters?

INDIANAPOLIS — In his stylish checkered suit jacket and red tie, a cleanly cropped hairline and perfectly trimmed beard, Ryan Day strides across Lucas Oil Stadium and through Big Ten media days Tuesday like a CEO occupying the halls of a Fortune 500 company.

In many ways, he is CEO of a Fortune 500 company: Ohio State Football, Inc.

Last year, Ohio State produced the country’s largest athletic budget, $275 million, much of it from football-generated revenue. And soon the school, like all others, will be permitted to distribute that wealth directly to players.

In fact, the university is rich enough that its donor-led collective and brand affiliates disbursed to Buckeyes football players “around $20 million” this past year, said Ross Bjork, the Ohio State athletic director. In all likelihood, that figure ranks first in America.

But as college sports enters a new revenue-sharing model, a question looms for all schools, most notably the nation’s richest.

Will those numbers continue?

“It’s too early to predict,” Bjork said. “How is it going to be broken down from a Title IX standpoint? The challenge is, we’re up against the clock. We’re signing athletes in football in December. We need some clarity sometime this fall.”

Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day speaks to the media during the Big Ten football media days at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. (Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports)

On Day 1 of the three-day media gathering in downtown Indianapolis, the Big Ten’s behemoth took center stage. This season looms as most important for Day, the 45-year-old entering his sixth full season in charge, having lost three straight years to rival Michigan and not yet winning a national title.

While he’s won 56 games and lost eight, the expectation level in Columbus is quite lofty, this season especially. With…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-07-24 13:44:19

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