By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) –

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State’s men’s basketball team couldn’t go to Italy. Otherwise, Ohio State’s nearly $120 million athletic department has navigated the current economic climate while barely breaking stride.

Forecasted to lose money during the 2008-09 fiscal year that ended on June 30, it turns out that the OSU athletic department did suffer a rare loss, but of only $148,026. That included a previously pledged $1 million donation to the school library. Stiff the library and the Buckeyes would have stayed in the black.

According to the most recent comprehensive NCAA study, based on 2006 numbers, only 19 of 119 FBS schools [formerly called Division I-A] were self-supporting, so losing money isn’t unusual. The Buckeyes are undeterred. The projected 2009-10 budget is for $118,025,600, a 2.3 percent increase over last year’s budget, which was a 5 percent increase over 2007-08.

“We didn’t do anything drastic that will ultimately damage the opportunities of student-athletes at the end of the day,” OSU director of athletics Gene Smith said.

There was general belt-tightening, Smith asking each department to trim fat. Per diems for coaches and staff dropped from $65 to $45. Ticket prices for football and men’s basketball increased by $1. The school is saving about $200,000 by not printing media guides this year.

Some women’s soccer trips in the spring were limited online pharmacy without a prescription to local bus rides instead of flights and overnights to places like California. Right now, the men’s basketball team is staying in cabins in Windsor, Ontario, a trip that costs about $30,000 according to Smith and saves about $150,000 to $200,000 compared to the original request for Italy. Teams can make a foreign summer trip once every four years.

Nearly all revenue categories in the 2008-09 budget came in at or above projections, from football ($43,917,272) to fundraising ($12,703,052) to Ohio Stadium suites and club seats ($10,964,347).

Smith had feared a decline in fundraising, but the department was able to renew more boosters in the Buckeye Club than originally expected. Men’s basketball earned $14,441,948, about $550,000 less than budgeted, but a spike in late-season ticket sales kept it from being worse. And the school’s golf course memberships didn’t drop off as much as expected because members from other country clubs found their way to the Buckeyes.

So the second-biggest athletic department in the country, behind Texas, remains near the top of college sports — and growing.

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