What Big Ten expansion with USC and UCLA means for Ohio State
Following the Big Ten’s latest round of expansion, it will span both the East and West coasts.
The league announced the additions of Southern California and UCLA late Thursday following a unanimous vote by the presidents and chancellors. They are set to join in 2024.
Their memberships put the Big Ten on equal footing with the Southeastern Conference as the 16-team megaconferences within the Football Bowl Subdivision after the SEC poached Oklahoma and Texas last summer.
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But what does the realignment mean for Ohio State, the Big Ten’s flagship program? Here is a look at a few of the ripple effects on the Buckeyes, starting with money.
Ohio State, Big Ten revenue to rise
The Big Ten’s media rights deal generates tens of millions of dollars each year for the Ohio State athletic department.
It brought in as much as $46.8 million as its payout from the league during the fiscal year 2020, according to a financial statement provided to the NCAA.
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Revenue for member schools is set to climb with the additions of USC and UCLA, which sit in the nation's second-largest television market and expand the geographical footprint of the conference to both coasts.
With its current agreement set to expire in 2023, the Big Ten has been in negotiations for its next media rights deal, which had already been expected to be a financial windfall.
The San Jose Mercury News reported that member schools will generate more than $100 million annually in media rights revenue.
Buckeyes athletic director Gene Smith said Friday that it is hard to project a specific payout figure that awaits them. He doesn’t expect the Big Ten’s new media rights deal to be finalized until later this summer. But Smith acknowledged there would be “significant upside” from expansion.
The conference will now have a foot in the nation’s three-largest markets between New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
"It will be big," Smith said.
The money won’t be insignificant.
Budgets for athletic departments across the Big Ten were strained due to the coronavirus pandemic that shortened the football season in 2020 and prompted games to be played without spectators in attendance, wiping out ticket sales, parking and other gameday-related revenues.
Ohio State’s athletic department reported an operating shortfall of $63.6 million during the fiscal year 2021 and announced plans to take out an interest-bearing loan from the university to cover the deficit. Terms have not been released. The department’s debt service already totaled more than $200 million.
Increased media rights revenue tied to expansion helps with the financial recovery.
More Big Ten marquee games
Ohio State and Michigan have long been the traditional football powers in the Big Ten.
Now USC, which claims 11 national championships and is viewed as one of the blue-bloods in the sport, joins the club.
But the Trojans have gone through ups and down since being hit with NCAA sanctions nearly a decade ago due to former Heisman Trophy-winning running back Reggie Bush receiving impermissible benefits.
The potential still remains for a turnaround in South Los Angeles.
Lincoln Riley, who led Oklahoma to three berths in the College Football Playoff during his five seasons at the helm in Norman, took over the program in November and appears poised to turn the Trojans into national title contenders after overhauling much of the roster through the transfer portal.
If the rebuild is successful, expect some high-profile games between Ohio State and USC in the coming years, either during the regular season or conference title game.
They aren’t strangers. The schools met in the Cotton Bowl in 2017 and as part of a home-and-home series in 2008 and 2009.
But most of their shared history dates earlier from when they met in six Rose Bowls between 1969 and 1985.
Ohio State’s men’s basketball team will also face UCLA, a historic basketball powerhouse that won 10 NCAA championships under legendary coach John Wooden.
The Bruins, who are led by former Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin, reached the Final Four as recently as 2021.
Smith described USC and UCLA as “two institutions that have great history and tradition” and would elevate the Big Ten.
"At the end of the day, Ohio State has been a program for the Big Ten over the years that has been atop the pyramid and carried a significant amount of weight and value," Smith said. "Now we have two others who can contribute to that weight, and we’re really excited about that. It’s no disparagement to any other school. That’s just reality."
Ohio State recruiting map grows
Southern California is one of the country’s most fertile recruiting territories for football.
The Buckeyes already have three natives from the Southland on their roster between quarterback C.J. Stroud, safety Kourt Williams and defensive lineman Hero Kanu.
Former record-setting receiver Chris Olave grew up north of San Diego.
A footprint that extends to the Pacific Ocean only helps with the program’s national recruiting efforts.
The Big Ten Network will air on more television sets in Los Angeles, raising awareness of the league — and by extension Ohio State — among prospective recruits and their families.
Regular matchups between the Buckeyes and USC and UCLA ultimately matter, too.
As Ohio State has dipped outside the Midwest for premier talent, it often landed in Florida, Georgia or Texas, some of the other warm weather states.
It now shares a league with schools from the most populated one.
Long-distance travel
The expanded geography has obvious downsides.
The distance from Columbus to Los Angeles is 2,243 miles. That's more than a four-hour nonstop flight.
A drive takes multiple days, more than 33 hours on the road.
The increased travel distances might not matter as much for football, which has only 12 games in the regular season with contests largely spaced out between Saturdays.
But they will be the most taxing for other sports, which all feature larger schedules. Among the more extreme examples, Ohio State’s baseball and softball teams played more than 50 games in their seasons this spring. Women’s volleyball went through more than 30 last fall as well.
Will additional charter flights be available? Extra resources will likely be needed to accommodate more trips to the West Coast.
"We're going to figure out a structure that we make sure we optimize the opportunity to compete, but also minimize the challenge of travel," said university president Kristina M. Johnson.
Smith said one of the measures that will be looked at is minimizing midweek games, which interrupt athletes’ class schedules.
But he pointed out that Ohio State’s teams have been traveling long distances for non-conference games.
"Many of our teams already go west," Smith said. "They compete against UCLA, USC, Washington, Texas. We got a lot of our other sports that go out there already. We have to be very strategic."
He also acknowledged that the coronavirus pandemic showed that athletes could handle a virtual course load if necessary.
"They will be creative on those planes, I guarantee you," Smith said. "They’re creative in those hotels now. They’re not going to sacrifice their academic performance. That doesn’t even concern me. That’s not an issue."
Johnson, a former field hockey player at Stanford, felt time management has long been an issue for athletes.
"There are road games for two or three days having to come back and sitting with the optical networks and circuits," Johnson said, "but our student-athletes are committed to the academic mission as well. It’s something we’re sensitive about."
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @joeyrkaufman.