Ross Bjork says no plans to sell Ohio Stadium naming rights

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In a scheduled June press conference on the state of Ohio State's athletic department, Athletic Director Ross Bjork was asked an interesting question. Based on the fact that Arkansas just announced a deal with CommunityAmerica Credit Union for the naming rights to Razarback Stadium, some were wondering if Ohio Stadium could be following suit.

Bjork answered that while of course anything is possible, there was nothing planned. There are also potential legal hurdles to selling naming rights, as the stadium is technically owned by the State of Ohio, and not by the university or athletic department directly. A naming rights deal would likely need to be passed by the Ohio Legislature, not simply worked on by the football program.

Naming rights for college athletics arenas are nothing new. After all, the Ohio State basketball teams have played in the Value City Arena of the Schottenstein Center since 1998. Both of those are sold named rights (to the same company, as Value City Furniture was part of Schottenstein Stores Corporation). But the trend of football stadiums selling naming rights is a new one.

Last year, Indiana sold the naming rights to its football field (but not the whole stadium) to Merchants Bank. The deal was reportedly worth $50M over 20 years, and it included other things as well. (Honestly, to me that sounds like a steal. $2.5M per year for the National Champions' football field? Merchants Bank got in right before that value skyrocketed.)

Also, in 2024 Arizona announced a 20-year, $60M deal for the rights to its stadium.

But from the look of things, Ohio State won't be joining this trend anytime soon.

This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ross Bjork says no plans to sell Ohio Stadium naming rights

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