Ohio State president Ted Carter expects conversations between Big Ten members about the possibility of moving to an unequal revenue sharing model in the future.
As things currently stand, all Big Ten members except Oregon and Washington – who receive only a partial share of media rights revenue as the conference’s newest members –receive an equal share of the conference’s revenue distribution. The ACC, however, recently adopted a new revenue sharing model in which 60% of the league’s media rights revenue is distributed proportionally based on a five-year rolling average of each school’s football and men’s basketball TV ratings.
Asked by USA TODAY whether he believes the Big Ten should adopt a similar revenue-sharing model, Carter didn’t state his opinion one way or the other. But he said he expects there to be conversations about that possibility.
“It doesn't matter what Ted Carter thinks. I think that's going to be a conversation that will be had over time,” Carter said.
A proportional revenue distribution based on TV ratings would undeniably benefit Ohio State, which consistently draws the Big Ten’s top TV ratings in football. Last year, Ohio State (3rd, 5.16 million) and Michigan (5th, 4.01 million) were the only Big Ten teams to rank in the top 10 nationally for average TV viewership during the regular season.
“I will say that there's only a couple of schools that really represent the biggest brands in the Big Ten, and you can see that by the TV viewership,” Carter told USA TODAY. “I mean, look what we just went through with the Texas game (Ohio State’s football season opener). ... You know, 16.(6) million people watching that game over the whole game. And it peaked at 18.6 million. It's the most watched opening game in history, third-largest game ever watched in a regular season (on Fox). So, that's what happens when you put the Ohio State brand out there.”
Carter said he didn’t want to discuss the specific conversations that are taking place within the Big Ten. As it stands, any change in the conference’s revenue-sharing model is unlikely to take place until 2030, when the Big Ten’s current media rights agreement with FOX, CBS and NBC expires.
The ACC’s move to unequal revenue distribution came as a result of the conference settling a lawsuit with Clemson and Florida State, who challenged the league’s exit fee and grant of rights, which bound their media rights to the conference through 2036. The settlement also changed the exit fee while allowing schools to leave the conference with their media rights if they paid the exit fee.
That said, Ohio State will be making no such challenge against the Big Ten, as Carter said Ohio State is “a proud member of the Big Ten, and that's where we're going to stay.”
