The best of times-worst of times dichotomy made famous by Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities is alive and well in Ohio.
The best of times is illustrated by Ohio State University’s status as the total revenue leader in college athletics.
According to NCAA data for 2022, OSU has the only college sports program in the nation to bring in revenue of more than a quarter-billion dollars. Buckeye athletics spent more than $225 million with about 10% left as a reserve.
The worst of times is demonstrated by a report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, revealing a large and growing gap between hourly wages and monthly rent.
The NLIHC report says it takes $19.09 an hour for a full-time worker to afford the average two-bedroom apartment in Ohio.
Seven of the top 10 job categories in Ohio pay less than $19 an hour and make it difficult for workers to pay the $993 monthly rent here. Registered nurses, truck drivers, and managers are the only widely sought Ohio job categories that pay enough to keep housing costs to a third of monthly income.
The sports programs at the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University can relate to the problem of too little money and too many costs.
The NCAA statistics show UT as 97th in revenue with $35.6 million coming in, and the exact same amount being spent on Rocket athletics. BGSU has it much worse: 130th in athletic revenue with nearly $25.6 million trailing all Mid-American Conference schools, except Northern Illinois. Both universities get more than half their athletic revenue through mandated fees paid by students. Ohio State is 100% self-funded.
Sports gambling in Ohio covers college athletics, and bettors watch more game broadcasts, driving up the ratings and that increases the rights TV must pay the college conferences for their games.
The universities will all get some of that money, much more to Ohio State than UT and BGSU, but they will all get something.
The low-pay Ohio work force has no one helping them make a decent living. In fact, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and NFIB-Ohio are working against them through support for State Issue 1.
The business groups want to make it hard to amend the Ohio Constitution because they fear a citizen-driven ballot issue to raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour.
For the many Ohio businesses who cannot find entry-level workers at any price, day-to-day operations are as challenging as running the athletic programs at UT or BGSU. A high-profile campaign by state business groups to keep Ohio wages low will be counterproductive to economic success.
