Ohio State projects $130 million in lost athletics revenue

A clearer picture of the financial challenges awaiting Ohio State’s athletic department emerged this week.

The school said it expects to lose out on $130.3 million in athletics revenues after the cancellation of the fall sports season by the Big Ten Conference.

The official projection was included among newly published materials and agenda items for an OSU Board of Trustees meeting scheduled for Thursday.

The university’s operating budget for the current 2021 fiscal year is up for approval.

OSU attributed the sharp drop in income for the athletic department to losses of ticket sales, media rights fees and other conference-related revenue distributions stemming from a fall season that was scrapped due to the coronavirus pandemic.

No other specifics, including further financial projections, were included among the agenda items. That includes any projection of a budget deficit, or possible cost-cutting measures in order to mitigate expenses.

The department was in the red during the 2019 fiscal year, the most recent period in which financial records are available.

Athletic director Gene Smith declined to comment on the projected losses until Thursday’s board meeting.

An analysis from The Dispatch last week showed that OSU was likely to lose out on more than $100 million in revenues without a football season during this fiscal year, which began on July 1 and runs through June 30, 2021.

The fall season could be rescheduled for the spring semester, but no plans have been unveiled by the Big Ten.

Keita entered this season in a battle for the third center back role with veteran Josh Williams, with the expectation that each of them would share time on the back line in relief of Mensah or newly acquired Dutch defender Vito Wormgoor.

Before the coronavirus pandemic shut down MLS for three months, Keita started against the Seattle Sounders in place of Wormgoor who missed the match with a rib injury. In the Crew’s first game in the MLS is Back Tournament, Wormgoor injured his ankle early in the first half and subsequently required surgery that will sideline him until at least mid-november.

Without Wormgoor, Keita and Williams will each earn starts in these compacted windows through the rest of an 18-game regular season. Keita, however, has a major opportunity to prove he can be a reliable center back for a defense that has allowed two goals through seven games.

“You never want to give up goals like that,” Porter said. “You don’t accept mistakes like that, but they do happen.”

The Crew weren’t pleased with the officiating, expecting more yellow cards to be given when NYCFC had six fouls in the first 15 minutes. If that had happened, it’s possible NYCFC wouldn’t have been as aggressive with its press and the Crew could have established more of an attack.

But Keita won’t make excuses for himself. This is one of the first moments of his career that he has encountered adversity. Maturity and growth as a player can be judged by his response in the coming games.

“I told him head up, let’s keep going and find the goal,” Mensah said. “These are mistakes that you do once in a while, but at the end of the day you need to let it go, improve and step into the next game and make it better.” jmyers@dispatch.com @_jcmyers