The Ohio State athletic department "could lose as much" as $110M in revenue "without a football season in the next year," according to Joey Kaufman of the COLUMBUS DISPATCH. The tens of millions of dollars generated by football "make up more than half of the department's annual operating revenues." Ticket sales stand as the "biggest revenue source for Ohio State's athletic department, which benefits from playing in one of the country's largest stadiums; Ohio Stadium holds more than 100,000 spectators." The Big Ten's six-year deal with ESPN and Fox Sports signed in '17 "meant millions for OSU in media rights." Both ESPN and Fox are "incentivized to be good TV partners ahead of potential future renegotiations, and thus could issue a payout of some size rather than lean on strict contract language." OSU has "not provided an official forecast of the financial impact from the absence of a 2020 football season, or for one staged in the spring" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 8/19).
SPEAKING OUT: OSU QB Justin Fields appeared live on ABC's "GMA" this morning to discuss his petition to reinstate the Big Ten football season. Fields said, "We want to play football, and I feel a lot of players feel more safe around the facility and around our protocols rather than just being on campus like a regular student. Our safety protocol is we get tested twice a week, and around the facility everyone wears masks and stuff like that." On whether or not he would participate in a spring season, Fields said, "Right now I'm just taking it day-by-day. One thing that I've learned over this whole process is that things can change daily, so right now I'm just taking each day one at a time" (“GMA,” ABC, 8/19).
WORKING HARD TO PLAY: Sports writer Jeff Snook cites a source as saying that OSU AD Gene Smith, with the "full support" of school President-elect Kristina Johnson, has been "working behind the scenes for the past six days to organize fellow Big Ten conference athletic directors in convincing at least five other university presidents to move forward with a 10-game season to be played among six teams." In this proposed format, each team "would play the other five Big Ten teams who are participating twice -- once at home and once on the road, beginning on either Sept. 26 or Oct. 3." The season would "conclude by mid-December and there would no Big Ten title game in Indianapolis" (FACEBOOK.com, 8/19).
