🏈 How Ohio State Rebuilt Its NIL Strategy in the Rev-Share Era

Last year, Ohio State went all-in on NIL (name, image, likeness). Reports suggest they spent $20M+ — split between retaining stars and landing new recruits. The ROI? The Buckeyes delivered a national championship, unlocking an estimated $60M–$75M windfall in ticket sales, donations, and media exposure.

But 2025 changed the game. The House v. NCAA settlement introduced:

Revenue sharing: Schools can now allocate up to $20.5M annually across athletes.
Stricter NIL oversight: Any deal >$600 must pass through a clearinghouse (NIL Go) to verify fair-market value.
Collective disruption: Donor-driven collectives risked extinction, forcing universities to adapt.

Ohio State’s response? Shut down its most powerful collective and create a new internalized entity — Buckeye Sports Group — to centralize NIL, align with the revenue-share model, and keep control where it belongs: inside the athletic department.

📊 The Data Behind Ohio State’s Shift

NIL Spend vs. ROI (2024)

Investment: $20M
Return: $60M–$75M (3–4x multiplier)
- $30M+: Ticketing & media rights uplift from championship run
- $20M+: Booster & donor surges tied to winning
- Recruiting ROI: Surge in 5-star commitments

Revenue vs. Budget (2025 Forward)

Ohio State Athletics revenue (FY2025 projected): ~$275M
Revenue-share cap: $20.5M (≈7.5% of budget)
Constraint: NIL dollars must now stretch beyond football — into basketball, Olympic sports, and Title IX compliance.

Positional NIL Market Benchmarks (Power 5 Averages)

QB: $750K–$2M
WR: $200K–$600K
OL: $150K–$400K
Defensive Stars: $250K–$700K
Women’s Basketball Elite: $100K–$500K (rising fastest YoY at ~30%)

Ohio State’s challenge: Fit elite-level talent within a hard cap, not an open donor checkbook.

Compliance Risk Mitigation

Old world: Booster-funded deals, loosely monitored.
New world:
- NIL Go clearinghouse for all >$600 deals.
- FMV benchmarking (no “$2M backup QB” deals).
- Risk of non-compliance = deal rejection + reputational damage.

Ohio State’s solution: Internal compliance + FMV modeling to pre-clear contracts before they ever hit NIL Go.

⚖️ Strategic Insight

Ohio State’s playbook is clear:

Kill the collective → End donor-led chaos.
Centralize NIL inside the department → Maximize control and compliance.
Optimize allocation → Data-driven NIL spend tied to ROI, recruiting yield, and FMV standards.

The booster arms race is dead. The future is NIL valuation modeling + disciplined rev-share allocations.

🚨 Blunt Insight

Ohio State isn’t just playing defense. They’re writing the blueprint for the new NIL economy: centralized, data-modeled, ROI-focused.

Schools that fail to adapt? They’ll hemorrhage talent when deals get flagged, caps get hit, or donors walk away.

The next frontier of competitive advantage isn’t who raises the most — it’s who spends the smartest.

The NIL era is no longer the Wild West. It’s structured, capped, and compliance-driven. Ohio State is ahead of the curve.

Men lie. Women lie. The numbers never do.