Ohio State allocates $20.5 million in initial revenue-share payments, adds scholarships as NIL settlement takes effect

Ross Bjork, athletics director at The Ohio State University, said the university has budgeted $20.5 million for revenue-share payments under the court-approved “House” antitrust settlement, with institutional NIL distributions for year one totaling about $18 million after accounting for added scholarships.

At a Columbus Metropolitan Club forum on the city’s Near East Side, Bjork described how the settlement, approved in June, sets a 22 percent allocation of certain averaged revenue streams for autonomy conferences and directs an initial distribution that begins July 1. "We came out ... and announced that we will share that revenue with 4 sports, football, men's and women's basketball, and women's volleyball," Bjork said. He added the institutional institutional-NIL allocation will grow over time and estimated the figure could approach roughly $30 million in four to five years.

The settlement and Ohio State’s implementing decisions matter because they change the flow of institutional revenue toward student-athletes and require athletic departments to adjust budgets, scholarships and compliance processes. Bjork said Ohio State also added more than 90 scholarships across 23 sports as part of the implementation, and that the scholarship increases were taken into account when calculating the amount available for institutional NIL this year.

Under the settlement’s formula, the 22 percent allocation is calculated from averaged revenues that include ticket sales, conference distributions…