Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork spoke to the media on Thursday morning. The conversation addressed a wide variety of topics, including a potential Super League, College Football Playoff expansion, and even the basketball program. One of the constant topics throughout was money. It’s money that makes the world go round, and college athletics is no different.
For the 2024-25 school year, Ohio State brought in the second-most revenue among all public schools (private schools don’t have to report), behind Texas. The numbers haven’t come out for the 2025-26 school year, but it’s fair to assume the Buckeyes will be up there yet again. The football program is, naturally, the cash cow for the university. While it costs the most to operate, it’s one of the largest brands in all of sport, and it can subsidize other sports.
Bjork kicked off the presser, lauding the Buckeyes’ best-ever year of ticket sales and sponsorships/licensing in program history. Additionally, it was the second-best year for fundraising. He mentioned that he was very proud of how the Buckeyes adjusted to the new era of revenue-sharing.
But what he said next is intriguing. In order to continue to progress as a self-sustaining program, Ohio State “will be the first program that has a $500 million operating budget.” Of course, he means all of the athletic department, but football bears the brunt of that responsibility. What does that look like? How does Ohio State get there?
Ross Bjork: Ohio State Looking to be First ‘$500 Million’ Program
Making Improvements
Obviously, a large chunk of that budget will be in paying coaches and players by way of “NIL.” We have strayed so far away from what NIL was supposed to be, but there’s no putting that toothpaste back in the tube. In addition, the school divided out $21.3 million in revenue-sharing.
At the same time, making improvements to facilities is important to keep up with the facilities arms race. When it comes to Ohio Stadium, the Buckeyes have already announced that they are adding 400 chairback seats, called the 1922 Club, that will be $6,000 per ticket, but will give folks a much closer look at the field and tunnel. The stadium is also replacing the turf, thankfully. Bjork additionally teased some “not yet made public” changes that the program is planning on announcing before the season.
The bigger and newer bit of renovations is the $125 million project to expand the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. The goal is to modernize the coaches’ offices, the meeting spaces, conference rooms, locker room, training room, and more. Ohio State has a massive team, including the players, coaches, and general staff. As of now, they can’t all fit in the meeting rooms, so this should address that.
You have to spend money to make money, so improving the facilities should make the experience at Ohio State better, thus attracting even more elite talents…ideally.
Ohio Stadium Sponsored By
Now, let’s get into the real bits of the presser. While Bjork mentioned that Ohio Stadium is “always under construction” to make it better and better, he did not rule out a sponsorship.
Ohio State has had conversations about the idea of selling the naming rights to Ohio Stadium. When asked if that was still the case, prompted by Arkansas’s renaming of its Donald W. Reynolds Stadium to CommunityAmerica Razorback Stadium. It really rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?
Already, SafeLight owns the naming rights to the field, and the program has sold off space for naming in various places around the stadium, including plastering the name of a military contractor that boasts autonomous surveillance with AI and autonomous weaponry. Also, OSU has set up “Express Entry,” in which students can scan their faces to authenticate their tickets, which is surely unrelated.
Either way, while Bjork mentioned that a stadium naming sponsor has been considered, it’s difficult because Ohio Stadium is not owned by the university; it is owned by the state and the taxpayers. They have to be very careful with what they do.
Hopefully, it doesn’t come to renaming Ohio Stadium. There currently aren’t any plans to do so. Either way, the Ohio State athletic program is not exactly hurting for money as Arkansas is, comparatively.
Jersey Patches
Finally, the second, almost sacrilegious suggestion over the last year has been putting sponsorship patches on the jersey.
Bjork mentioned that, just as they are with the stadium naming rights, the Buckeyes are looking into jersey patches. He went on to say, “Hopefully, we can get something done before the season.” This part of the conversation is likely a 90-10 issue, in which the 10% of people in favor of it are the ones either making the money off the patch or would be paying for it.
Still wondering what Ross Bjork meant when he said Ohio State is going to do jersey patches “the right way.”
Hard to do something right when everything about it is wrong.
— Jon “JR” Rhoades (@jrs_rankings) February 7, 2026
What corporate sponsors would make sense? If it comes down to it, hopefully, Ohio State picks a Columbus-based company with some ties to Ohio State. Also, no blue or yellow. Ohio State is a Coke campus and, allegedly, a reason for that decision was because Coke is red and Pepsi would not budge from its blue coloring.
In order to get to a $500 million operating budget, more sponsorships will be needed. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the direction collegiate sports are going. Maybe the Buckeyes can woo an obscenely wealthy benefactor (not named Les Wexner) so these things are not needed…
