Ohio State’s Absurd NIL Expenditures Are Turning Heads

A report from Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger revealed just how much Ohio State is spending on its college football roster, citing it could be one of the most well-funded programs in the country from an NIL perspective.

Dellenger reported that the Ohio State athletic department brought in roughly $275 million in 2023. A healthy amount of that number comes from football, and the Buckeyes are not shy about reinvesting in their program.

“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,” Dellenger wrote.

The admission finally puts some of the dollars college football programs are willing to spend into perspective for fans.

“Whew the go fund me era of college sports is wild,” Deacon Sports wrote.

This might have unintentionally put a little more pressure on Ryan Day to succeed now that people know what kind of resources he’s working with to pull in top players

“If Ohio State loses a single game with this kind of spending Ryan Day should be fired on the spot. There’s plenty of coaches accomplishing a lot more with a lot less,” one page replied.

“All or Nothing: If Ohio St. does not win the national championship or make the national championship game, he will likely be fired. It’s the expectation for this investment whether you agree or not. Bookmarks are free,” Mitch Gilfillan added.

Several Michigan Wolverines fans had fun with this number too.

“$20 million to lose to Michigan and not make the playoffs,” Jared Easley jabbed.

“Not much ROI for that kind of money,” Adam Krawczynski piled on.

Bjork told Dellenger it’s still unclear if those numbers will continue when a new revenue-sharing model begins, decreasing the need for NIL collectives to fund the program. Bjork said, “We all are going to follow Title IX.”