Ross Bjork calls for clarity on NIL rules, enforcement post-House settlement

Since implementation of the House v. NCAA settlement started, questions swirled around enforcement of the rules. The College Sports Commission formed just after the agreement received approval, tasked with enforcing key terms.

But some around college athletics still have questions. That includes Ohio State athletics director Ross Bjork, who said there are some areas the college sports world is awaiting clarity.

Bjork said the biggest questions surround violation of the revenue-sharing cap in place under the House settlement, as well as the relationship between schools and high school recruits. He said more answers could be coming soon, but there are still unknowns to navigate.

“We’re still waiting on the rules to be published,” Bjork said. “We’re still waiting on, what does cap circumvention mean? What can and can’t you do with high school prospects? Because many people have different interpretations of that world, right?

“So there’s still some things that the world is waiting on for college athletics. Hopefully, we’ll have some clarity this week. That’s what we’ve been told.”

Led by CEO Bryan Seeley, the College Sports Commission has added multiple staffers to work under his purview. Still, the college athletics world is just one month into the revenue-sharing era, and Bjork cited the need for “confidence” in the system now in place. That’s part of the message from leadership to the CSC.

“We really need a whole messaging campaign to come out of the College Sports Commission,” Bjork said. “‘Here’s our staff plan, here’s the roadmap, here’s the things that haven’t been solved yet. But here’s the things that will be solved.’

“We’ve got to instill confidence in the system, and we’re urging the leaders of [the] College Sports Commission and our commissioners to get the clarity that we all need so then, we can keep marching forward.”

Ross Bjork: Ohio State taking ‘integrated’ approach

Last month, the College Sports Commission released guidance cracking down on the role of NIL collectives with regard to the NIL Go clearinghouse. Run by Deloitte, the clearinghouse will vet deals worth more than $600 as part of a fair-market-value process.

Initially, the CSC said collectives must meet the “valid business purpose” part of the process, which resulted in pushback. However, the organization updated its guidance, saying it will treat collectives as a typical business so long as they conform to the valid business purpose guidelines.

Ross Bjork said Ohio State anticipated the new guidance, which is why the school is taking on an “integrated” approach. The university announced the launch of Buckeye Sports Group in partnership with Learfield to help with NIL support.

Ohio State’s collectives – the 1870 Society and THE Foundation – are still engaged and serving in an advisory role. As a result, Bjork said OSU was ready for a pivot, though not much changed.

“The ruling from the College Sports Commission about the collective world, that’s what we anticipated,” Bjork said. “It doesn’t matter what you call yourself. It’s really about what your purpose is. We have all kinds of opportunities in the business world that meet valid business purpose, range of compensation. We’re deploying those things right now. We were ready to pivot if we needed to, but in a lot of ways, we didn’t have to. That’s why we created Buckeye Sports Group.

“We’re talking to sponsors, we’re talking to donors, our collectives are still engaged from a leadership and a structure standpoint. We have a lot of things in place to adapt to what was said last week.”