New Episode of BBOC: The Ohio State University Athletics Director Ross Bjork

New Episode of BBOC: The Ohio State University Athletics Director Ross Bjork

On the latest episode of JohnWallStreet Presents: Big Business on Campus, a college sports podcast powered by Playfly Sports and sponsored by Short’s Sports Travel Logistics, JohnWallStreet Founder Corey Leff and Playfly Sports Chairman Michael Schreiber sit down with The Ohio State University’s Senior Vice President and Wolfe Foundation-Eugene Smith Endowed Athletics Director Ross Bjork.

In this 40-minute conversation, we touch on:

Facilities Still Driving Recruiting

Some industry insiders believe if recruiting battles are increasingly decided by financial packages, that dollars spent on bricks and mortar projects deliver diminishing returns. But Bjork rejected the idea facilities enhancements have become secondary in the NIL era.

“In today’s world, you can’t sit back on facilities and just say, ‘Hey, what we have is good enough.’ There’s always something that has to evolve…Yes, we know the NIL components are there. [But] I dare somebody to have bad facilities and see if they can still recruit,” Bjork said. “In the next two to 10 years, we could spend $500 million or so on facilities. We’ve got a lot of things on the runway that we want to get off the ground sometime this spring. Facilities aren’t going away.”

Team Travel, Handled.

College athletics travel leaves no margin for error. Every departure, arrival, and transfer impacts preparation, performance, and peace of mind. Short’s Sports Travel Logistics exists to remove that pressure.

As the fastest growing sports travel partner in collegiate athletics, Short’s supports more than 110 athletic departments and 1,600 teams with fully integrated commercial reservations, air charter, ground, and hotel solutions. Our team approach is built on proactive planning, real time visibility, and experienced people who understand the demands of game day.

Travel plans change. Weather shifts. Schedules move. When they do, our team is already working behind the scenes to adjust, communicate, and execute. No guesswork. Just accountability.

Programs partner with Short’s because we deliver consistency when it matters most. Since 2020, more than 65 schools have chosen Short’s to manage their travel with confidence.

Short’s Sports Travel Logistics
Team Travel Made Easy.

Creating an In-House NIL Agency

Ohio State created the Buckeye Sports Group as a response to the direction of NIL post-House settlement. The in-house agency, embedded into the school’s Learfield operation, helps to consolidate NIL efforts and streamline deal making between athletes and brands.

“We’re going to [partners] and saying: here’s an opportunity. You’re spending this amount of money with Learfield and Ohio State Sports Properties. Would you want to deploy that money to Buckeye Sports Group [and have some of it] to go to an athlete? The great thing about our relationship with Learfield is essentially every dollar goes to the athlete. There’s not a profit-sharing margin on NIL.”

Delivering Premium Experiences in a Historic Venue

Rights owners increasingly depend on premium hospitality to drive revenue and meet fan expectations. But for teams/schools with iconic venues, modernization is a delicate balancing act.

“We need to protect the legacy, the history of [Ohio Stadium]. We need to tell the stories around it. So, I look at [how we can improve the venue] more surgically. How do we take found space and build out a premium area or a concourse and theme it,” Bjork said. “We had TV trucks that were parked right at our front door that [were] there a long time. [But] with technology, we’re [now able to move] those out of the way [and we’re] adding [our] 1922 Club…That’s a found space. [It] was a classroom office space tucked underneath the stadium….We’re going through [the venue] space by space and determining what can we do to enhance [the fan experience], while at the same time there’s infrastructure [improvements necessary] that just [come] with a 104-year-old stadium.”

📺 Watch the full video on JohnWallStreet’s YouTube Page.
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

We’ll be back with the next episode of JohnWallStreet Presents: Big Business on Campus in two weeks. West Virginia University President Michael Benson will be our guest.

In the meantime, make sure to check out our sponsor, Short’s Sport Travel Logistics—the fastest-growing company in collegiate athletics travel, and the trusted choice of over 108 athletic departments nationwide. Short’s simplifies every aspect of team travel (think: air charters, commercial flights, buses, and hotels) and helps to turn complex logistics into a competitive advantage.

Previous episodes of BBOC, including sit-downs with Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman, Arizona AD Desiree Reed-Francois, Maryland AD Jim Smith, American Commissioner Tim Pernetti, Pittsburgh AD Allen Greene and Wake Forest AD John Currie, Kansas AD Travis Goff, Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris, Big Sky Conference Commissioner Tom Wistrcill, and SMU AD Damon Evans can be found on JohnWallStreet’s YouTube channel.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe!