Ross Bjork outlines keys to strong NIL fundraising at Ohio State

Ross Bjork is taking over as the athletic director at Ohio State at a time of massive change in college athletics, including the Transfer Portal, conference realignment, and NIL.

In particular, NIL is a topic that came up during Bjork’s introduction to Ohio State. That led to him outlining what he sees as the keys to a strong NIL fundraising infrastructure at Ohio State.

“You said a lot of keywords in there, envy, perception, right sort of outcomes,” Ross Bjork said. “No one knows what reality really is in the NIL space unless they’re on your campus and they’re turning in the contracts to your compliance office, which is a healthy part of any NIL program.”

Ross Bjork, for now, is knowledgeable about what goes on at Texas A&M. Now, he needs to adjust to Ohio State and that’s going to take some time, where things are likely done differently.

“So, that’s reality is what happens on your campus. We don’t really know what’s happening across the country and that’s one of the challenges that we have here,” Bjork said. “So, what I would say in the NIL space is today’s leaders, today’s coaches, we have to get the culture right first. That’s going to still matter. Team culture. Team chemistry.”

Perhaps most importantly, according to Ross Bjork, is building a strong infrastructure for NIL within the athletic department.

“Then, there has to be a structure around NIL. The players know who’s the most valuable player. They know who’s going to make the most money because of who they are,” Bjork said. “So, if there’s structure within your organization, if there’s constant communication about value, if the culture is building culture, and there’s a lot of communication, people shouldn’t have to hide around their lockerroom and say, ‘Hey, what’s that person getting or what’s that person getting?’ The best players are gonna thrive. Other players should be able to be accommodated as well. So, if there’s communication, if there’s a plan, those are all the aspects that I believe in.”

Ross Bjork, ultimately, has plenty of plans for the future, both big and small when it comes to the NIL infrastructure at Ohio State.

“I can’t wait to see how it works here and see what the dynamics are, and eventually what I think you’re gonna see is a hub within the athletic department where everything just funnels into one hub and that may be some of the revenue that comes into that hub and then it may go out. If we can build the infrastructure the right way to model this out for the future, that’s what I’ll look at, that’s what I’ll study when I get here and I learn more about,” Bjork said.

“Like I said earlier, revenue generation, revenue acquisition, we have to embrace all of it. NIL to buying a t-shirt and everything in between is something that we will embrace heavily and we will get after it.”

Ross Bjork labels Ohio State a ‘championship brand’

Ohio State held a ton of appeal for Ross Bjork. That, notably, included being able to run an athletic department that has a championship brand.

“In college athletics, there’s championship brands, there’s sort of fighter brands that are trying to fight their way. Championship brand. Period,” Bjork said.

“And then I know what the university stands for. The family has been wearing Buckeye shirts around family reunions. So, I know that if you’re from this state, it doesn’t leave you. So, you understand that, the magnitude of it, and you have to embrace that and that’s what we’ll do.”