It’s no secret what lies inside the red and white vending machines that dot Ohio State’s campus. Since 1998, OSU has had an exclusive contract with Coca-Cola. But details of the deal, which was renewed in 2008 for at least $33 million, and how money is distributed from it have often been as elusive as Coke’s secret recipe.

OSU backtracked Tuesday on claims that contract numbers, such as royalty fees and vending commissions, are trade secrets and released an unredacted copy of the contract. But questions still surround some of the distribution of Coke money.

Senior OSU administrators met last July, more than a year after OSU renewed the exclusive contract, to dole out the money that flows to OSU’s coffers from the deal.

Because the current contract does not spell out how money should be distributed, decisions are made by the Senior Management Council, made up of top administrators, who report directly to President E. Gordon Gee.

At last summer’s meeting, the council approved the use of $10 million to offset part of the $119 million construction costs for the new Ohio Union. This has reduced the amount students will have to pay in fees for the facility, according to financial documents.

At the same meeting, administrators were told that OSU had not earned expected vending commissions from the sale of Coke products that year, according to council documents.

The $10 million to the Union is one of the largest allocations made by the council; the rest is mostly tied up in specific payouts to various departments.

But it is unclear where the money would have gone if the Senior Management Council had not allocated that amount, or even why the council decided on $10 million.

Finding answers is difficult because few people at OSU fully understand the contract and the allocations that flow from it, and some of the people who were involved in the renewal of the contract have retired. In addition, OSU officials initially said many of the details of the contract were trade secrets, and some were reluctant to answer questions.

One of the key architects of the previous two Coke deals, longtime chief financial officer Bill Shkurti, retired in March. His replacement, Geoff Chatas, was not at OSU when the contract was renewed or when allocations were made last summer, and he has no direct knowledge of how allocations were made, his assistant Kathy Dillow said.

However, Dillow said Provost Joseph Alutto, head of the Office of Academic Affairs, did play a substantial role in the allocation process.

“He had a huge piece of the decision-making,” she said.

Alutto has not responded to repeated requests for an interview over the phone or through e-mail.

Jim Lynch, director of Media Relations, said Alutto presided over the summer meeting, but only because financial officer Shkurti was unable to do so.

Lynch said questions about how the $10 million was allocated under the old contract and how the council decided on that amount were too specific even for Alutto.

As for the Union allocation, Lynch said: “Ohio State’s Senior Management Council looked at all of the needs and priorities for the university when determining how Coca-Cola funds would be used.”

The university had promised there wouldn’t be a student fee until the Union opened, he said.

“Given the fact that student leaders agreed that the Union was a high priority, we felt that this $10 million would directly benefit the student body,” he said.

Ruth Gerstner, director of media relations for Student Life, acknowledged that some of the key people involved in the discussions have retired. But the “general recollection and rationale” for the $10 million allocation, she said, was to use money from the contract to directly benefit students.

Gerstner also said that in planning for the Union, “there has always been an emphasis on mitigating the student fee by finding other sources of funding,” which includes fundraising and Coke funds.

In the past, administrators had turned to money from the previous Coke contract for a number of projects.

Funds from the 1998 contract, worth about $30 million, were used to renovate parts of the old Union in 2002 as well as the RPAC, according to Lantern reports at the time.

Also, $1 million generated from the 1998 contract was used to offset construction costs for the new Ohio Union.

With the $10 million allocation to the Union, nearly all the funds generated from the current contract appear to have already been distributed. Requests for the remaining amount totaled nearly $13 million even though the available amount was only $4 million, according to financial documents. The leftover amount was eventually distributed to Student Life, diversity initiatives and a recycling program.

To further muddy the current Coke fund waters, OSU’s deal with the beverage company appears to have slightly soured last year, as money earned from vending commissions failed to meet expectations.

The university did not earn expected vending commissions in fiscal year 2009 and recommended delaying the distribution of those funds, according to financial documents.

Attempts to reach the Purchasing Department about vending revenue were again fruitless. Tom Crawford, the director of purchasing, said his department refers all media inquiries to Media Relations.

Lynch initially said the university had met its expected vending commissions last year.

Lynch then clarified, saying despite the fact that the university did not meet the expected vending commissions last year, the university “did receive all of the funding we were expecting for vending commissions under the terms of the contract.”

Payments to the university under the contract come in the form of royalty fees and vending commissions, a percentage of money that OSU makes from Coke products sold on campus. In exchange, Coke receives the exclusive right to sell its products on campus.

If OSU earns less than $850,000 a year in vending, then, under the terms of the contract, Coke will make up the difference until that guaranteed amount is reached.

Lynch offered the explanation that perhaps the Senior Management Council delayed distributing vending revenue because OSU had not yet received that payment.

But the language of the document says the university should delay distribution “until there is confidence that future commissions will meet expectations.”

Lynch said the now-retired Shkurti was responsible for preparing the council documents that described the less-than-expected vending commission numbers.

“I do not have direct knowledge to explain all of the details … all I can tell you is that the university did receive all of the funding under the terms of the agreement,” Lynch said.

Lynch also said OSU was on track to meet expected vending commissions for this year.

He said the $10 million allocation is helping to keep the Union facility fee lower than it would have been. Starting in the fall, all undergraduate students will begin paying $51 per quarter to pay for construction of the Union. Graduate and professional students will pay slightly less.

The fee is projected to rise to $63 per quarter by 2015. It likely will continue to rise until the bonds are paid off in 2030.

When OSU began planning the new Union in 2004, the facility fee was estimated to be between $15 and $45 per quarter, according to a previous Lantern report.

Fundraising for the Union was also less than initially anticipated, according to a previous Lantern report. Initial estimates that between $10 million and $15 million could be raised never materialized.