Bjork ready to lead Ohio State athletics into uncertain future – Buckeye Sports Bulletin

Now that Gene Smith has officially retired, Ross Bjork began his tenure as Ohio State’s athletic director on July 1.

Bjork will be tasked with leading Ohio State through the ever-changing landscape of college sports in recent times, and he plans to continue to grow. He said he’s ready for the task and believes Ohio State is ready for the changes that lie ahead.

“We want all our sports to be at the highest level, but the expectations and the funding model are now going to change very, very dramatically,” Bjork told BSB. “If we don’t adapt to that, then we’re not doing our job. The old adage is that if you don’t like change, you’re going to like being irrelevant even less. So we better change, or we’re irrelevant. Our job is going to be to make sure that we change.”

Bjork mentioned one big change: revenue sharing, which will be implemented in college sports at the start of the 2025 school year. He’s already outlined how he plans to pay Buckeye student-athletes the maximum amount allowed. Another possible change is conference expansion and what they might look like in the future.

“We have to solve the governance issue of Division I and then the FBS,” Bjork said. “We have 130 FBS programs, and there’s a disparity. You’ve heard some of the Group of Five talk about how they need to have their own playoffs, or how they can have their own identity. To me, there’s a place for everybody.”

“The second tier is media rights, TV deals,” Bjork added. “How the biggest brands come together around media deals. Right now, that’s not possible. The Big Ten has a deal. The SEC has a deal. I think it’s going to be fascinating to see what happens with the ACC, some of these institutions refusing to give away rights. We know when the Big Ten’s deal expires. We know when the SEC’s deal with ESPN expires. I think it’s going to be fascinating to see what happens in the next eight to 12 years as far as the media value of our TV deals.”

Bjork has been at Ohio State since March in an advisory role, and he said he has spent that time trying to learn as much as he can about Smith’s job since he’s done that job for 19 years, and trying to get to know everyone at Ohio State.

“I’ve really made sure to honor and respect Gene,” Bjork said. “The best thing I can do when I take over is get to know the people in place. If I do that effectively, I think I’ll be more effective as I start to understand more things, develop a vision, develop operational plans and refine things that may need to be tweaked or adjusted along the way. I think I’ll be better equipped because of the way we’ve made this transition.”

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