December 6, 2024 • 43 mins
Ross Bjork, The Ohio State University’s Senior Vice President and Wolfe Foundation-Eugene Smith Endowed Athletics Director, joins Boxer and Sarah to talk about what it’s like at the helm of one of the largest collegiate athletic departments in the nation and the sports scene in Columbus. From memories of his first game at The Shoe this season to his family’s favorite activities in Columbus to the crossroads of college athletics, you won’t want to miss our final episode of the year.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yes Columbus, an Experienced Columbus podcast keeps you in the
know of what's happening in the Art City Columbus. The
number one soccer team, the number three beer city, a
top ten culinary destination with the largest concentration of fashion
professionals in the US. Join us each week with special
guests for an inside look at a destination that invites
(00:23):
visitors and locals alike to explore. By the end of
each episode, you'll be asking yourself, can all of this
really exist in one city? Yes Columbus. Well, welcome back
to another holiday episode of Yes Columbus. I'm one of
the hosts Boxer, along with Sarah Towns. Sarah, good to
have you back.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Thank you, it's great to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I have to say we have a pretty heavy hitter
this time around for this Experience Columbus podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Whoa, WHOA, bring it all out.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You're bringing the big guns here, Sarah. But it's great
to have you back. Can't wait for this episod.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
And it's hard to believe the holidays are already here.
Will be taking a break for a bit, but we
look forward to coming back again in twenty twenty five
with new episodes. And even more amazing guests. Yeah, before
we hop into this week's interview, it's time for our
headliner segment, where we highlight a recent story or accolade
about Columbus. We're ending the year on a high note
(01:21):
because Columbus was just named on AFARS Where to Go
in twenty twenty five list. Columbus is one of only
five US destinations featured on a list of twenty five cities,
many of which are international destinations, and the story highlights
the city's diversity, growth, history, art, food, and accessibility. We
(01:41):
are so excited to be on the list.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Not surprised at all, Sarah, i' mean considering what Central
Ohio and specifically Columbus has to offer. Not surprised at
that at all. And every episode, by the way, you
know what, I'm impressed on every episode of this podcast.
There's always something new that we've landed on a list.
Impressive too.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Yes, our team works very hard on that, but we
don't really have to work that hard because Columbus is
an amazing city and all we have to do is
get those travel writers and influencers into the destination and
they fall in love with.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
It just like we did.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
So Boxer. It's time for our behind the Buzz segment.
Today we're speaking with Ross by Or, the Ohio State
University Senior Vice President and Wolf Foundation Eugene.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Smith Endowed Athletics Director. That is a big title.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Ross, that's a mouthful.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Welcome. We are.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So happy to have you with us today.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Thank you so much. It's it's great to be with
somebody who has one name.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Madonna.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
We're just we're just, I know, we have last names,
we do, you know. Just Also, that's a privilege, celebrity or.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
It's so funny getting to meet Ross And the next question, so,
so that's your name, that's right, right, Boxing, I like
it all right, Okay, Ross, it is. It's a real
pleasure to have you with Thanks for your time, especially
a guy like you and and how busy you are.
So it was what July that you became the Athletics
diractor the Ohio State University. You moved to Columbus back
(03:20):
and March for the role of the Senior Advisor for
Intercollegiate Athletics at OWS. You tell us about first of all,
what I think I know the answer, but what inspired
you to move and come to Columbus In Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah. You know, if you read my bio, it sounds
like we couldn't keep a job, right. We moved around
a lot as a as a family in this kind
of the you know, i'd say seasons of life in
college athletics. You know, we we love the journey that
we had. Sports has meant so much to our family,
to me as a as a leader, as a man,
as a person, as a husband. My wife played college sports.
(03:53):
I played college sports. And when we sat down as
a family, when this opportunity came about, and we really said, okay, hey,
what do we want kind of the end to look like?
What would you want your legs legacy to say? And
it said Ohio State on it? I mean, come on, yeah,
Like there's no other place that can define what college
athletics means higher education, being a leader in this enterprise.
(04:17):
And it's not the ego part. It's just can you
make an impact? And then you throw the personal side
into it. So I have three agents in my life,
my wife and my two sons. And when I sat
down with my three agents, my wife looked at me
and said, Ross, what would your mom say? And we
can get into that the history of our family, and
(04:37):
I said, well, my mom would say you have to
take this job. My mom grew up in northwest Ohio
on a family farm. Yeah, Buckeye. I've got relatives that
are Buckeye fans through and through. So there's no way
I could have looked my mom in the eye and said, oh, yeah.
By the way, Ohio State bus pulled by and I
said no, I didn't get on. And then our youngest
son actually said, isn't Columbus kind of to your point?
(04:57):
Is Columbus a big city? Yeah? It is. Isn't there
more to do there? Yeah? There is? And isn't it
Ohio State, Yes it is. Well what are we doing?
We got to go and he was in seventh grade
and now he's in eighth grade. And then our oldest
son was going off to college, and so his agency
was sort of diminished because he was going off to
college anyway. It didn't matter where we lived, he was
(05:18):
going to be gone anyway. But it really just came
down to the program, the history, family connections, the ability
to move We've done it before, and then just the
chance to I think lead at the highest level and
be it a place that just means so much to
a state and to a community, So lots of reasons why,
but just perspective of life I think was kind of
(05:40):
the main tug. And then it's Ohio State.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
And you can't can't say no Ohio State, you just can't.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
The Buckeyes mean so much. So lots of reasons.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Yeah, it sounds like you were the perfect that you
studied recreation administration at Emporia State University in Kansas, where
you played football, and you went on to earn a
mass degree in athletic administration from Western Illinois. Was becoming
an athletics director always your dream job? Or when did
you start having your sit set on this type of opportunity?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
You know? Again, sports has been part of my life.
I mean, playing t ball, playing fifth grade football. I've
been around a team for forty plus years, you know, consecutively,
so that's been really cool. But I just wanted to
work in sports, and I thought the only way to
do that. I loved my high school coaches, and I
thought you had to be a teacher and a coach.
I had no idea about the business side. I'd go
(06:32):
to a high school game and I'd see the people
like at the scorers table, like, who are those people?
Where do they go after the game? What do they
do before the game? Who's the guy sweeping the floor?
Like where does he go? So I always was fascinated
by the business side of it, but I didn't know
how it worked. And then when I went to Imporia State.
I remember I was a player of the week somewhere
(06:52):
or during the season and we were at a restaurant
doing like a quarterback club meeting, and there was four
players up there and they all have because, hey, what
do you want to do after you graduate? And our
athletic director was sitting in the room, and I said,
I want his job someday. I want to be an
ad And I'm pointing at him. Wow, He's like, what
He's going to take mine? And I'm like, I don't
(07:13):
know how it's going to work. I don't know, but
I want to be an athletic director. That was I
was a junior in college. And so then you just
start to study what the pathway looks, like, how does
this all work? What is the business? I had no
idea that you could work at Ohio State or I
could work at Missouri. You know, as a twenty three
year old, I had no idea how all that worked.
(07:33):
I just knew I wanted to give back. I wanted
to work in college athletics. The athletic director position I
think was important. It wasn't coaching, but it was sort
of coaching the coaches, if you will. And I just
thought it was a fascinating, you know, enterprise where it
doesn't feel like work. And so I just I just
had this yearning to kind of give back because so
(07:54):
much was given to me as an athlete. And so
it's been an awesome Who would have thought you could
be Ohio State growing up in Dodge City, Kansas. Yeah,
what is still Alaria State? As again Division two athlete,
But it's been awesome. Great people have been in that journey.
And so yes, I've always wanted to be an ad
since an early age and it's just.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
And here you are been great.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Ross York is with us. He's the athletics director of
the Ohio State University. Ross, I know you also serve
as the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics first
vice president and you're on the NCAA Division Student Athlete
Experience Committee. That's a mouthful, but in Layman's terms. What
does that mean and what kind of role is that.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
First of all, let's go back to the NACTA role.
Nact is based in Cleveland, Ohio, and they've been an
association for over fifty years, and it's really the Athletic
Director Association where it's a professional development, it's education, it
can be a voice for athletic directors. It's a way
to come together for common purposes. The main thing about
NACTA is our convention every year happens in June, and
(09:00):
it's usually Orlando or Vegas. Now we can actually go
to Vegas. You couldn't go to Vegas for a long
time in college athletics. Now we can actually embrace Las Vegas.
But it brings people together, and so the role is
really just presence leadership, being a voice in the industry.
The list of people that have been NACTA presidents is
(09:20):
like a who's who of athletic directors. Again, very humbling
to be on that same list. I'm really a product
of NACTA. I started going to NACTA in nineteen ninety
seven and I was in fundraising and there's a fundraising
organization that's part of NACTA, and I just met so
many people, and every person that I met I can
point to that helped me get to where I am.
(09:41):
And so I think you just have to give back
to our professional associations. I think you have to give
back as a leader. I think it's important that we
inspire the next generation of leaders who want to be ads.
So NACTA provides that. Being on NCAA committees, it allows
you to kind of have a voice in the system
if you will, to effect change to get things done
(10:02):
at the national level. So I think service is important.
Can't forget your day job. Yeah, of course leading the
buck eyes, but I think national service is what people
expect here at Ohio State. And I've always just been
a believer in just helping people kind of climb through
this industry. And NACTA is that great platform. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
How large is that organization?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Gosh, there's eleven hundred colleges and universities right that have athletics.
It's the convention last year was over seven thousand of these,
So anywhere from sports information directors to fundraising people, to
academic advisors to athletic directors. It's a really great mixture
of professionals in college athletics.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
By the way, do you guys ever get like because
you're from all these different schools, get together and play
a game of like pickleball or flight football?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Just curious At the NACTA convention, they always do like
a run, they do like a like a five k.
There's a charitable component to it. I don't know if
you'd want to do that because there's a lot of
competitive people.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, that's what I was saying.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
A lot of us are like out of shape athlete,
so probably shape, but that's a different level, right, that's
a different leve the competitive So I think you get
a lot of people hurt.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
I don't know if we got an injuries, a lot
of you know, sports.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Doctor wall maybe maybe, but you know, otherwise.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Pickleball, they're more interested.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Than any other sport.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Maybe as the president, maybe I can get some new
new ideas well.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
And I will also say, if they ever want to
move that conference to Colombo, do.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
You know who to call?
Speaker 4 (11:37):
We have a whole strategy around that, so.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
We would love to help you.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Hotel room nights, that's right, room nights, that's absolutely right.
So Ross, you've lived and worked all over the us
from Texas to Mississippi and from California to Florida. How
familiar were you with Columbus before taking the position in March,
And how has your time in Ohio compared to other
places that you've lived.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yeah, you know, the Ohio roots, like I said, run
deep with my mom growing up on the family farm.
I remember my oldest uncle, who's no longer here with us.
He would always wear this T shirt that would say
Woody's Back. And I had no idea what it, man,
I just knew that he'd loved Woody Hayes. He'd loved
what he stood for. He'd loved the historian part of
Woody Hayes and the military part. And my uncle was
(12:21):
a high school teacher up near Bowling Green, and so
he'd always wear the shirt, and he'd always talk about
Ohio State. And then all my cousins and everybody, they're
all Buckeye fans, and so we've known about Ohio because
my mom. We'd come here at least once a year, Thanksgiving, summer, vacation, Christmas.
I remember coming to the State Fair eight nine, ten,
(12:42):
twelve years old, somewhere in there. So we'd Columbus, Was
it seemed far away, even though hour and a half
forty five minutes from kind of northwest Ohio. We came
down here a couple of times during the State Fair,
but otherwise we didn't really come into Columbus. When I
worked at Missouri in nineteen ninety eight, we played a
football game Missouri played Ohio State. I remember coming with
(13:03):
some friends, had family come down. So I've been to
Columbus a few times for other games, for other meetings,
but again I had no idea that it was just
booming the way it is. And then once we started
getting here and learning more about it, it reminds me
of Nashville ten to twelve years ago, Austin years ago,
Like everything is booming, everything is growing, and so the
(13:26):
Ohio roots helped. But then coming in sort of with
fresh eyes also, I was like, wow, this is a
gold mine. This is a great opportunity for us at
Ohio State to really capitalize on all of this. So familiarity,
you know, with the family ties, but then learning more,
you know, as I'm becoming accustomed to the city and
getting to know more people.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Russ, how was your first summer here in Columbus did
you take look I know you're a busy guy, But
does a guy like you take part in any of
the festivals that go on here?
Speaker 3 (13:57):
What did you do? We do? You know, I think
our family, we we just love being, you know, out
and about. We love experiences. So we went to the
state Fair. You know, I'm gonna I'm gonna lean towards
the buck eye part. So what's the favorite food at
the state Fair that day? I mean, everything's fried, right?
How do you pass up a fried buck eye? Like
you take the buckeye and you dip it and yeah,
(14:20):
so that was that was the favorite favorite part of
going to the state Fair. But you know, we just
we walked around and uh, you know, I guess at
that point in time, not a lot of people noticed.
I saw a couple of our staff members and so
I talked to them, but had a ball cap on,
had a you know, shorts and a T shirt and
my wife and I we walked around for half the
day and just kind of soaked it all in. We
(14:41):
went to the Sciota Food truck food. Yeah, that was cool. Yeah,
we went there Upper we live in Upper Arlington. Labor
Day they had an arts festival and they had music
and you know, art displays and you know, bought a
couple of things trying to help the local economy. So
you know, we love those kinds. We love music. Lionel
(15:02):
Richie concert and we went to Chris Stapleton back in April.
I went to the Bruce Springsteen concert.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I'll look at you know.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
We went to a couple of weeks ago. We had
Steve Martin and Martin Short.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, I miss that unfortunately.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
So there's a we we just love those kind of things.
And and again Columbus, I mean, holy Cow, you could
go to a small music venue one night, and then
you could go to Nationwide or the Shot or the
Shoe right right. We had international soccer matches here. Our
son loves soccer. He got into soccer probably seven or
eight years ago. So we went to the MLS All
Star Game. We went to the Aston Villa, you know,
(15:39):
crew match. We hosted a big soccer match.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
I know, did you guys go to that Manchester City?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
That was so just the fact that you're at Ohio State,
You're in a big city, you have all these things.
You know, we we love to soak it all in.
So and we're looking forward to more. We haven't there's
a lot of places we haven't been to yet, right,
and so we're looking forward to more of that as
we get going.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Yeah, so many amazing attractions and things to do. But
sports is a huge part of our city and a
big part of what draws visitors here, from our collegiate
teams to our four professional sports teams to the mini
annual events. How would you describe the Columbus sports scene
to friends?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
To me, there's something for everyone, right again, large scale,
small scale. I think the cool thing is we have
diversity of sport, right you go from professional baseball to
professional soccer to NHL team. We're hosting large scale events.
Obviously at Ohio State. You also have national we have
women's professional women's volleyball team here. I mean, who would
(16:38):
have thought that that would be would be here? And
so things like that, I think something for everyone. Do
we have the NFL? No, But down the road we
had two teams right NBA? You know the Guardians are
a great team right in baseball the Reds, I mean,
so the Cavaliers are you know, one of the best
teams in the Those are right down the road. And
so I think the fact that you can drive to
(16:59):
a lot of play as well. But Columbus I think
has something for everyone. And so again I think large
scale to small scale is what I think of when
I think of the sports scene. You know here in Columbus.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Ross you oversee, if I'm not mistaken, it is the
largest athletics department, isn't it in America when it comes
to college sports and self sustainable, like you don't need
help from the university, which is very impressive. You always
hear about football, but there's also other sports too that
come to mind. You have men's soccer, for example, tell
(17:33):
us about some of the other sports as well.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
You know, I think the something for everyone. Again, if
you want to go to large scale football, you got it.
But if you want to go watch the best women's
ice hockey program, there you go with nine hundred other
people right in a small venue at the OSU ice rink,
which we need a new one by the way, and
we're working on that. But how cool is that? And
then if you want to go watch a top five
men's tennis team and a great women's tennis team, we
(17:59):
have the best indoor facility, the Ty Tucker Tennis Center.
You can go watch that and a lot of our
events are free. Outside of basketball and volleyball and wrestling
and gymnastics and football, a lot of our sports are
are free. We have a brand new lacrosse stadium which
is the.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Oh that's beautifulful lacrosse that so again you can watch
high level sports.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You mentioned soccer. We're the number one ranked team as
of this recording. We're hosting the Elite eight game you
know on Saturday. That'll be a great atmosphere. We had
the largest soccer crowd in the Big Ten history when
we hosted the team up north we'll say their name,
Michigan a few weeks ago for the Big Ten championship.
So there's just a lot of cool things. You know.
(18:41):
You could go down that we have the national championship
pistol team, right, we got fencing that we hosted the
NCAA Championships last year. There's so many things that you
can really point to that says, you know what, I
don't want to mess with football. Okay, but I'm gonna
go watch tennis and there's two thousand people there, and
I'm gonna go watch hockey and there's a thousand people there. Yeah,
(19:04):
you're gonna watch great competition, great young people, people that
do it the right way, and then oh yeah, they're
going to class on Monday, you know. So I think
there's a cool you know, mixture of education and sports
that all of our teams have to offer. And so
I think that's a really cool setting for entertainment if
you will that. If you want something in this town,
you have all of it. So I think that's a great,
(19:25):
great platform. Russ.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I read a fun fact too a few years ago
that synchronized swimming at Ohio State, and correct me if
I'm wrong has more national championships than any other sport.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
There is that true, right, yeah, nineteen Oh wow. Now
we call it artistic swimming.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Okay, so it's not synchronized anymore.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
It's called artistics. See, there's so many sports. I failed
to mention that one too, right, the history of that one.
But again, same thing. You go to mccorkyl the Aquatic
Center and you can watch high level you know, competition.
So there's so many thirty six sports, Yeah, eleven hundred athletes.
To your point, all self, susp we need support, we
need donors, we need ticket buyers, all those things, but
(20:05):
they really the thing that we that we distill every
single day is we help young people achieve their dream
maximize their potential, and whether it's a pistol athlete or
whether it's a high level football player, that's what we do.
So that's that's really cool that we get this opportunity.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
Well, and I love to you know, we often will
highlight things that are free to do around the city,
and I think we need to do a better job
of talking about all the amazing sports that you can
see to your point that you know, don't even require
a ticket.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
That's really that's really cool.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
So there is so much changing in college sports, from
conference realignment to name, image and likeness. What do you
think the future of college sports looks like? I know
that's a really big question question.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yea, how much time do we have exactly that high level?
Speaker 1 (20:54):
High level?
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, that's the next podcast.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, you know, we've had we've had multiple legal threats, lawsuits,
and one lawsuit's going to define the future at least
for the next ten to fifteen years. It's called the
House case. It's a case out in California. It's in
the Ninth Circuit, and what it does is it allows
for us to share revenue with athletes. It allows us
to not have scholarship limits on our teams anymore. We
(21:19):
have roster limits, but we can fund scholarships as we
see fit. We always had these rules where you could
only have twelve scholarships in baseball and eighteen in soccer,
but you'd have more than that on the team, you know,
eighty five football scholarships. All those rules go away. We
can have unlimited scholarships, but we can also share revenue.
That case is defining the current and the future of
(21:42):
college athletics. All of those rules and all the court
implementation goes into effect July one of twenty twenty five,
and that will last for ten to twelve years and
then from that so really the future is going to
be defined by the conferences. The NCAA will still exist,
there's still going to be rules, we need national governing bodies,
(22:02):
we need postseason, but the conferences are going to assume
more sort of autonomy on rule making. What do financial
elements look like? How do we generate more revenue with
our conferences, but also how do we govern ourselves? The
governance the way it works right now. Quinnipiac, which is
a great university, they have their sports programs. They have
(22:25):
the same vote as Ohio State, but yet the economics
and how we play and where we play are different.
So we need to take more control at the higher
conference level, and that's happening right now. So what you'll
see is, I think more local control within conferences, less
national control, and then we need some uniform standards. We
(22:46):
need Congress's help, which kind of sounds scary, right, what
does that mean? What does that come with? But they're
really the only entity that can have a uniform standard
for what college athletics should be. We're not professional athletics.
We're not amateur athletics anymore. We have education in the center,
we have elements of professional but we're not employees. Student
(23:08):
athletes are not employees. So how do you define that?
How do you prescribe that? I think we can take
more ownership at the conference level, and so those are
the things that we're working on. But next year, starting
next year, our athletes are going to receive a scholarship,
They're going to receive revenue sharing for some sports, not
all sports, some sports, and then they can still capitalize
on name, image likeness. That's going to be the landscape
(23:31):
in terms of the financial arrangement between the athlete and
the institution, and that really hasn't been clear, especially for
the last five years. And then we always had a
restricted environment before and now the environment will be more
open where we can do more things for our athletes.
So I tried to distill that you did great, but
(23:52):
there's a lot to it. And the great thing is
Ohio State's a leader. We have a voice. President Carter's awesome.
Our board of trustees have been tremendous in supporting our model.
We're keeping all thirty six sports, We're keeping scholarships for
all thirty six sports.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
That's great to hear.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
We didn't know that was possible even two months ago
or three months ago or six months ago. It is now,
and so we're adapting and we're going to lead. And
you have a great atmosphere so we can continue these
entertainment elements that we all enjoy.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Ross It feels like it's still very much nil wise
the wild West out there is. And if you can't
give a number, that's okay. I'm not really looking for
a number, but is there a number in the future
that nil wise You're going to need to be sustainable
and be attractive to these future athletes or one of the.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Things that this court case does it actually defines what
revenue sharing numbers will look like, and it's a percentage
of certain revenue categories. The first year, it's around twenty
point five million. We'll be able to spend from the
athletic department. Your point, there's going to be needs above
and beyond that. That's just the way the market is.
(25:04):
So we're going to be able to create nil relationships
between companies and athletes, and right now we kind of
have to have an arms length relationship. We can, we
can introduce, but we have to get out of the way.
In the future, we're going to be able to really
help our athletes. What that number is, what that market is,
we don't know yet. We think it in Columbus it
can be robust. We think about the corporations that are
(25:26):
based here, Think about buck guys who own companies who
want to help. What that number is, It's going to
be hard to define at the front end, but I
think once we get going it can be a robust number.
We have a great market. The great thing about being
in Columbus we have a great market versus a small
college town. Maybe your market's limited, so the twenty point
five million will be the first year that'll be defined
(25:48):
above and beyond that. We've got some work to do
to map that out, so it's hard to say exactly
what that number can look like. But you raise a
good point. The market's going to continue to evolve. Does
it level out a little bit, does it go up
a little bit. That's sort of what we have to
map out and wait and see how it works.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Yeah, sounds like it's an absolutely amazing time to be
a collegiate athlete, especially at OSU. And are you really
growing and expanding your team to sort of accommodate because
I think about all the amazing athletes and the companies
and the opportunities and providing those matches.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
That is a lot of we're remaking a lot. You know,
we're moving people that are talented to say, you know what,
you can help us in the nil space. You can
help us in the sponsorship space, you can help us
in the sort of salary cap management, because now we're
going to have this twenty point five and you've got
to manage that, right. You got to talk about player
valuations and things like that. So we're probably not adding
(26:44):
a whole lot of staff.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
We're probably remaking, reallocating.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
And reallocating what we have, and so that process is
happening right now, that undertaking of an analysis to say,
how many people do we need in this area. We
have talented people here, but there's not a need for
those people in that unit anymore because rules changed or whatever.
Let's move them over here. We're doing that exercise as
we speak. So great, great point.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah, exciting opportunities for everybody.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Before. Eugene really set the bar with the creativity of
things that you can do, for example at the shoe
and on campus. And that creativity I would imagine is
going to continue. But I think about, well, Manchester City
and Chelsea FC that match next year, what is it March?
You're going to have the Red Wings and the Blue
Jackets that match at Ohio Stadium. What do you see
(27:33):
on the horizon for the future with not just Ohio
State athletics, but I guess combining forces and partnering with
other sports here in town.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
One of the unique things about this role, and really
back to what you said about Gene. To Gene's credit,
ten or twelve years ago, they combined athletics with what
was called business advancement. Business advancement is really like auxiliary services,
so licensing and merchandising. We oversee the hotel, the Blackwell Hotel.
We have a management agreement with Franklin County to run
(28:04):
Nationwide Arena downtown, so our team manages that, the concerts
that we bring in in the summer, the international soccer matches.
All of that reports up through my position. That's unique
in college athletics. Normally that's a campus unit that's separate.
You don't really get involved in that. You may overlap
a little bit. Here, it's all integrated. So the ability
(28:26):
to be creative is like no other here at Ohio State.
So we have the resources, we have the tools, we
have the people the manpower to pull those things off.
We partner obviously with the Columbus Sports Commission. That's a
great partnership. So we work with Linda and her team
and Sarah and everybody to say, how do we bring
more events. We just got the NCAA Men's basketball tournament, right,
(28:48):
we got the women's volleyball Final four back here, We've
got women's basketball Final four. We can do more, we
can invest more, we can do more. I think we
have to make sure our facilities continue to stay to
par so that takes investment from city, county, businesses, US
Ohio State. So I think all of that goes hand
(29:09):
in hand. But the ability to be creative is already here.
There's universities right now that are creating new entities and
new units to do what we have here at Ohio State.
Because there's flexibility, because there's creativity. So we have a
model program from that standpoint, and that's where I think
we can really do more and we can really be
creative and say, you know what, we're not afraid. That's
(29:30):
I think one thing I've learned about being in Columbus
is no one's afraid of what's next. How do we grow,
how do we take it to the next level, whether
that's city leaders, whether that's Ohio State, whether it's our department.
I think that's what's really cool. So this unit provides
a platform to say, let's go and let's do something different.
So it's a really cool apparatus that we needed to
(29:52):
play in.
Speaker 4 (29:53):
It's another way that we're spotlighting the innovation of Columbus.
So Ohio Stadium or the Shoe is an electric environment
on game day, what or do you have any sort
of favorite moment from this season, especially at being your
first season that you've gotten to be the athletic director
at OSU football, Anything that stands.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Out to you.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Yeah, really, you know, the first game, I wanted to
get there early and I wanted to go. We have
a golf cart, so we have to get around efficiently, right,
and we just drove around the tailgates and I just
we'd pull up on people and they'd be like, who's
this guy? Is this like security, you know, pulling up
in a golf cart, And I would just get out
and I would introduce myself. Hey, where are you from.
(30:34):
Oh we're from Fremont. Oh we're from Cleveland. Oh we're
from Cincinnati. And just so just getting to know people,
I think was really cool. And seeing the elaborate I've
never seen so many ambulances or fire trucks that turn
into tailgating machine. We have a lot of ambulances in
our parking lot, not to treat people, but to tailgate.
So that part I think was really cool. Just to
(30:56):
see the creativity, you know, I think uniformity of bringing
people together is so cool, and we're working on that
inside the stadium. But Skull Session, Oh I.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Love this Skull session.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
My son just got to play at that Upper Arlington
Marching band got to play a session a couple of
weeks ago and it was amazing.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Yeah, And I went to the first one, thinking yeah,
maybe I'll go to one or two. This year, I
went to every single one of them one one, because
I think it's so unique to have a player, a
co assistant coach, and the head coach speak to fans
two hours before the game exactly. Nobody gets that. So
to have that unique environment, to have the best damn
(31:36):
band in the land right there front and center. I mean,
people are waiting in line two hours before to get
into Saint John to watch school session. So I went
to every single one of them. I thought that was cool.
And then I think another really neat thing is when
the band enters the stadium and everybody wants to be
in their seat. Yeah, right, twenty five minutes thirty minutes
(31:57):
before kickoff, we have to be in our seat to
watch the band enter the stadium. So those kind of things,
and then once we you know, we're evaluating our game
day atmosphere, I think there's some uniformity things. I think
we can get our students a little more engaged. So
we're looking at those kind of things. But those couple
of moments, you know, first game was really cool skull session,
and I have a little spot in the bell tower,
(32:21):
so I always hear the bell go off. Uh, So
we go and go in there and listen to the
press conference and then let traffic clear out, and so
you can always hear the victory bell. So there's a
lot of cool things.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
That's so cool to ross on the on the heels
of those experiences as a as a history nerd and
an Ohio State nerd, a college sports nerd, I guess
is probably a better way to put it. Do you
have the keys to Ohio Stadium? And if you do,
are you one to well? I mean, are you? I'm
(32:56):
just thinking if I was Ross Buork, would I go
on the fifty yard line at eleven o'clock at night
or midnight and just take it all in, just quiet,
soak it in.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
I do have keys, I've never had to use them
because it's always been open every time that I've been
able to go in there. You know, I haven't done
that part of it. But you know, our oldest son
had not been to a game, and so he was
in town for Thanksgiving weekend and we, you know, we
get again. We get there early, and I said, hey,
let's go down to the field and let's just stand
(33:28):
there and kind of soak it all in. So there
are moments where we do that and reflect and just
kind of say, wow, you know, we're blessed, we're fortunate.
Haven't done it at midnight. Maybe someday, let's win the
national championsheah, there we go, and then we can do
it after that. But no, I think you do have
to sort of look out the window, if you will, right,
(33:49):
and you do have to cherish certain things about the journey,
and there are moments where you're like, wow, okay, you're
very blessed as a family your experiences. So I'm a
big believer in, you know, take the moments, look out
the window, so to speak. So, but I haven't done midnight.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
So now when you inspired me, do you ever say,
because I'm not originally from here, but do you ever
say to yourself, I'm not sure it's going to ever
get better than this with what you do for a living.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
I don't think. So. I mean, there's just no to me,
there's no way. Again. I love being on campus. I
love being around young people. I saw one of our
lacrosse players at Starbucks this morning and she was studying
for finals, and you know, just be able to say, hey,
good luck, how you doing? Are you ready? How do
you feel? Like? That's so cool? Cool? And so I
(34:41):
love being on a college campus. And then if you
can do it at a place like Ohio State, you
live in a big city, we have the family ties here. Yeah, no,
that's exactly right. You're you're never going to get any better.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (34:53):
So we've talked already that twenty twenty four has been
a huge year in sports for Columbus, from hosting the
US Figure Skating Championship in January to the us A
Fencing Summer Nationals to the MLS All Star Game, which
we all got to participate in. Looking ahead, we're excited
to host the NHL Stadium Series in March, which we
talked about, and in twenty twenty seven, huge year, NCAA
(35:15):
Women's Volleyball Championship, Men's basketball tournament in twenty twenty eight
Women's Final four and twenty seven how do you see
the Columbus sports scene evolving in the next few years.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
I think, you know, we've proven that we can do
it right and do it at a high level, and
so I think we need to continue to showcase that
part of it. But I think it goes back to
what I said earlier. We need to make sure we're
investing as a city, as a county, as a university
to be able to keep attracting these type of things.
And so, you know, if you look at the World
Cup is coming up, I don't know if we can
(35:47):
get back in a cycle quite yet on international soccer
because the World Cup's going to kind of suck a
lot of that energy. So but we want to be
innovative in that scene. We have great partnerships, you know,
in that scene. We want to continue to partner with
the Columbus Sports Commission because I think that's so important
that there's alignment there. We can't do it alone. We
want to continue to host as many earned in Cuba
(36:10):
postseason opportunities, so we can earn women's basketball, we can
earn baseball, we can earn softball, we can earn soccer.
How do we earn those We have to play at
a high level to earn those but how do we
host you know, predetermined you know events at the NC
DOUBLEA level. We need to be creative. We need to
keep looking at those things. But I think investment in
(36:31):
the opportunity, investment in our facilities, investment in forward thinking
that can't go away because otherwise we may lose out
because other cities that they're competing to, right, so I
think we need to be really really strategic and communicate
at the highest level. The Haslim family they continue to invest,
you know, the McConnell family is going to continue to invest.
(36:53):
How do we be a part of that as a
city community leaders, with our sports teams, with our entities.
And I think there's a huge upside because we've done
it before. And everybody that I talked to that sort
of selects these things, they view Columbus as a destination
that can that can handle this because we've done it before.
So that's a really cool asset that we have to
(37:14):
continue to grow.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
So we're gonna switch gears now for the last two segments.
Our next one is called Columbus Classics.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
This podcast is.
Speaker 4 (37:24):
All about uncovering what's new, but we also love the
tried and true places and experiences. I know you haven't
been here too long, but can you tell us about
a Columbus classic experience you love. It could be a neighborhood,
a restaurant, or anything that you enjoy.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
You know, I'll start with the neighborhoods. It's so cool
that we're really like a small town in a big city.
And it's because I think the neighborhood feels that we have.
I mean, you could go to Dublin and feel like
you're in a small town somewhere. Right. We just drove
through Powell, you know, a couple of days ago, and
I'm like, oh, I hadn't been and there's a little
downtown area. You're really cute, right, Grand View, German Village.
(38:02):
I mean, every little pocket has like a downtown. So
I think the small town in a big city feel
is really cool. My son and I we we live
in Upper Arlington, so Griggs Reservoir. So we bought two
kayaks this summer, so kayaking when it's warm enough. It's
a little cold right now, probably too chilly to kayak,
(38:23):
but you know, just being outside I think has been
really cool. So we've discovered the Siota. You know Griggs Reservoir.
Kayaking there, try not to get hit by some of
the power boats.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Have a lot of the rowers.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
Yeah, practice the Ohio State Boat House. Oh yeah, that's
right on the west side of Griggs Reservoir. So we
uh it's funny. First time I went out on the
kayaks by myself and one of the boat patrol officers
pull pulls up and I had my life vest but
it was in the boat, which is legal. But I
didn't have a tag on my kayak and he pulls
(39:01):
me over. This is I won't give the officer's name.
And he pulls me over. Hey, sir, I'm just doing
a safety check. You know, where's your tag? You know?
And then he looks at my name. He goes, are
you the new are you the new athletic director? And
I'm like, yes, sir, And I had a hat on,
you know, it's the summer. And he goes, my wife
is going to kill me that I pulled over. You
(39:22):
didn't pull me over. You didn't pull me over. You're
doing it. You're doing a safety You're doing a safety check.
I go, you're doing your job, you know, and he said, hey,
just you know, make sure you register your kayak. You know,
here's how you do it. And but he was so funny,
he said, my wife's gonna kill me. I pulled over
the new athletic director. I go, you didn't know you
were doing a safety check. So but no experiencing the
(39:43):
outdoors I think is cool to have here in Columbus.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Ross just just out of curiosity with the story that
you just told. You know, we've we've grown accustomed to
gene for so many years, and you take over. When
people find out who you are, if they didn't recognize
you already, do they do kind of a double take
because it's Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
It's a big deal celebrity. Yeah, a big deal.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
You know.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
I've learned that, Look, every word matters, your presence matters,
but it shouldn't be bigger than what it is, right,
I mean, we're still humans. We're husbands or fathers, right,
We wake up every day, we drink our coffee, we're
normal people. So I think you have to try to
normalize it as much as you can, but also know that, look,
(40:25):
it's important. It's not the most important, but it is important,
and so you have to I think have just perspective
but it is kind of funny when you put your
driver's license down or your credit card and somebody may
do a double. My wife gets this sometime, you know,
because be York is not necessarily a common name here
in Columbus. Are you Are you you related to? Yeah,
(40:47):
that's my husband. So it is you know that that's
a neat feeling that people appreciate, you know, the role,
the job. But I think you just have to be normal.
You have to live your life. You can't be afraid.
You've got to just do the thing that I think
are natural to you as a person, as a family.
But it is it is kind of funny that somebody,
oh my gosh, I can't believe I pulled over the
(41:08):
athletic director on the Griggs Reservoir. So you got to
laugh at those moments.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
Well, look, before we close out today's episode, we've got
just one more segment, and that's what you're saying yes
to Columbus this weekend or maybe the season. I'm going
to have you Ross and then Sarah also both answers, Sarah,
why don't we start with you first? Ladies?
Speaker 4 (41:27):
First, what I'm saying yes to this holiday season is
some of the cozy dining experiences that we have in Columbus,
So from Lindy's to guild House to some of the
holiday bars like Land Grant that are out there, just
really taking in the holidays more from like a dining perspective.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Definitely the holiday season. To me, there's nothing better, right
what Christmas stands for in the holidays, and you know,
however you celebrate, I think is awesome. So it's definitely
saying yes to the holiday season. But you know, we've
lived in Texas the last five years, Mississippi for seven years,
we haven't seen a white Christmas. I want to say
(42:07):
yes to a white Christmas. There you go, Boxer, can
you can you deliver on that? Man?
Speaker 1 (42:13):
I don't know if I can deliver, But in the background, you.
Speaker 3 (42:17):
So, how about just a little snow flurry? You know,
nothing too deep, right, nothing too crazy, but just to
wake up, you know, I mean we remember that as
a kid, right, you just wanted to wake up and
you wanted to see snow on the ground. So that's
what we're looking forward to and saying yes to, is
a white Christmas.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Tell you what, when we wrap up and stop recording,
I'll get your address. I have a portable snowmaker, so
I'll bring it over to her. We'll have a white Christmas. Well,
thanks so much for joining us on today's episode. Happy Holidays, Ross,
to you, Sarah, to you and to those listening. And
by the way, if you need inspiration on all there
(42:53):
is to see and do here in Columbus this holiday season,
make sure you go to Experience Columbus and the website
Expeririuscolumbus dot com slash Holidays Ross Byork a real pleasure.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Thank you all so much, you too.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
That's a wrap on this week's episode of Yes Columbus
and Experienced Columbus podcast. Tune in next week as we
take you on a tour of what's new, what's hot,
and what makes Columbus a city on the rise.
Yes Columbus, an Experienced Columbus podcast keeps you in the
know of what's happening in the Art City Columbus. The
number one soccer team, the number three beer city, a
top ten culinary destination with the largest concentration of fashion
professionals in the US. Join us each week with special
guests for an inside look at a destination that invites
(00:23):
visitors and locals alike to explore. By the end of
each episode, you'll be asking yourself, can all of this
really exist in one city? Yes Columbus. Well, welcome back
to another holiday episode of Yes Columbus. I'm one of
the hosts Boxer, along with Sarah Towns. Sarah, good to
have you back.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Thank you, it's great to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I have to say we have a pretty heavy hitter
this time around for this Experience Columbus podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Whoa, WHOA, bring it all out.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You're bringing the big guns here, Sarah. But it's great
to have you back. Can't wait for this episod.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
And it's hard to believe the holidays are already here.
Will be taking a break for a bit, but we
look forward to coming back again in twenty twenty five
with new episodes. And even more amazing guests. Yeah, before
we hop into this week's interview, it's time for our
headliner segment, where we highlight a recent story or accolade
about Columbus. We're ending the year on a high note
(01:21):
because Columbus was just named on AFARS Where to Go
in twenty twenty five list. Columbus is one of only
five US destinations featured on a list of twenty five cities,
many of which are international destinations, and the story highlights
the city's diversity, growth, history, art, food, and accessibility. We
(01:41):
are so excited to be on the list.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Not surprised at all, Sarah, i' mean considering what Central
Ohio and specifically Columbus has to offer. Not surprised at
that at all. And every episode, by the way, you
know what, I'm impressed on every episode of this podcast.
There's always something new that we've landed on a list.
Impressive too.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Yes, our team works very hard on that, but we
don't really have to work that hard because Columbus is
an amazing city and all we have to do is
get those travel writers and influencers into the destination and
they fall in love with.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
It just like we did.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
So Boxer. It's time for our behind the Buzz segment.
Today we're speaking with Ross by Or, the Ohio State
University Senior Vice President and Wolf Foundation Eugene.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Smith Endowed Athletics Director. That is a big title.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Ross, that's a mouthful.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Welcome. We are.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So happy to have you with us today.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Thank you so much. It's it's great to be with
somebody who has one name.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Madonna.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
We're just we're just, I know, we have last names,
we do, you know. Just Also, that's a privilege, celebrity or.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
It's so funny getting to meet Ross And the next question, so,
so that's your name, that's right, right, Boxing, I like
it all right, Okay, Ross, it is. It's a real
pleasure to have you with Thanks for your time, especially
a guy like you and and how busy you are.
So it was what July that you became the Athletics
diractor the Ohio State University. You moved to Columbus back
(03:20):
and March for the role of the Senior Advisor for
Intercollegiate Athletics at OWS. You tell us about first of all,
what I think I know the answer, but what inspired
you to move and come to Columbus In Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah. You know, if you read my bio, it sounds
like we couldn't keep a job, right. We moved around
a lot as a as a family in this kind
of the you know, i'd say seasons of life in
college athletics. You know, we we love the journey that
we had. Sports has meant so much to our family,
to me as a as a leader, as a man,
as a person, as a husband. My wife played college sports.
(03:53):
I played college sports. And when we sat down as
a family, when this opportunity came about, and we really said, okay, hey,
what do we want kind of the end to look like?
What would you want your legs legacy to say? And
it said Ohio State on it? I mean, come on, yeah,
Like there's no other place that can define what college
athletics means higher education, being a leader in this enterprise.
(04:17):
And it's not the ego part. It's just can you
make an impact? And then you throw the personal side
into it. So I have three agents in my life,
my wife and my two sons. And when I sat
down with my three agents, my wife looked at me
and said, Ross, what would your mom say? And we
can get into that the history of our family, and
(04:37):
I said, well, my mom would say you have to
take this job. My mom grew up in northwest Ohio
on a family farm. Yeah, Buckeye. I've got relatives that
are Buckeye fans through and through. So there's no way
I could have looked my mom in the eye and said, oh, yeah.
By the way, Ohio State bus pulled by and I
said no, I didn't get on. And then our youngest
son actually said, isn't Columbus kind of to your point?
(04:57):
Is Columbus a big city? Yeah? It is. Isn't there
more to do there? Yeah? There is? And isn't it
Ohio State, Yes it is. Well what are we doing?
We got to go and he was in seventh grade
and now he's in eighth grade. And then our oldest
son was going off to college, and so his agency
was sort of diminished because he was going off to
college anyway. It didn't matter where we lived, he was
(05:18):
going to be gone anyway. But it really just came
down to the program, the history, family connections, the ability
to move We've done it before, and then just the
chance to I think lead at the highest level and
be it a place that just means so much to
a state and to a community, So lots of reasons why,
but just perspective of life I think was kind of
(05:40):
the main tug. And then it's Ohio State.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
And you can't can't say no Ohio State, you just can't.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
The Buckeyes mean so much. So lots of reasons.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Yeah, it sounds like you were the perfect that you
studied recreation administration at Emporia State University in Kansas, where
you played football, and you went on to earn a
mass degree in athletic administration from Western Illinois. Was becoming
an athletics director always your dream job? Or when did
you start having your sit set on this type of opportunity?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
You know? Again, sports has been part of my life.
I mean, playing t ball, playing fifth grade football. I've
been around a team for forty plus years, you know, consecutively,
so that's been really cool. But I just wanted to
work in sports, and I thought the only way to
do that. I loved my high school coaches, and I
thought you had to be a teacher and a coach.
I had no idea about the business side. I'd go
(06:32):
to a high school game and I'd see the people
like at the scorers table, like, who are those people?
Where do they go after the game? What do they
do before the game? Who's the guy sweeping the floor?
Like where does he go? So I always was fascinated
by the business side of it, but I didn't know
how it worked. And then when I went to Imporia State.
I remember I was a player of the week somewhere
(06:52):
or during the season and we were at a restaurant
doing like a quarterback club meeting, and there was four
players up there and they all have because, hey, what
do you want to do after you graduate? And our
athletic director was sitting in the room, and I said,
I want his job someday. I want to be an
ad And I'm pointing at him. Wow, He's like, what
He's going to take mine? And I'm like, I don't
(07:13):
know how it's going to work. I don't know, but
I want to be an athletic director. That was I
was a junior in college. And so then you just
start to study what the pathway looks, like, how does
this all work? What is the business? I had no
idea that you could work at Ohio State or I
could work at Missouri. You know, as a twenty three
year old, I had no idea how all that worked.
(07:33):
I just knew I wanted to give back. I wanted
to work in college athletics. The athletic director position I
think was important. It wasn't coaching, but it was sort
of coaching the coaches, if you will. And I just
thought it was a fascinating, you know, enterprise where it
doesn't feel like work. And so I just I just
had this yearning to kind of give back because so
(07:54):
much was given to me as an athlete. And so
it's been an awesome Who would have thought you could
be Ohio State growing up in Dodge City, Kansas. Yeah,
what is still Alaria State? As again Division two athlete,
But it's been awesome. Great people have been in that journey.
And so yes, I've always wanted to be an ad
since an early age and it's just.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
And here you are been great.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Ross York is with us. He's the athletics director of
the Ohio State University. Ross, I know you also serve
as the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics first
vice president and you're on the NCAA Division Student Athlete
Experience Committee. That's a mouthful, but in Layman's terms. What
does that mean and what kind of role is that.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
First of all, let's go back to the NACTA role.
Nact is based in Cleveland, Ohio, and they've been an
association for over fifty years, and it's really the Athletic
Director Association where it's a professional development, it's education, it
can be a voice for athletic directors. It's a way
to come together for common purposes. The main thing about
NACTA is our convention every year happens in June, and
(09:00):
it's usually Orlando or Vegas. Now we can actually go
to Vegas. You couldn't go to Vegas for a long
time in college athletics. Now we can actually embrace Las Vegas.
But it brings people together, and so the role is
really just presence leadership, being a voice in the industry.
The list of people that have been NACTA presidents is
(09:20):
like a who's who of athletic directors. Again, very humbling
to be on that same list. I'm really a product
of NACTA. I started going to NACTA in nineteen ninety
seven and I was in fundraising and there's a fundraising
organization that's part of NACTA, and I just met so
many people, and every person that I met I can
point to that helped me get to where I am.
(09:41):
And so I think you just have to give back
to our professional associations. I think you have to give
back as a leader. I think it's important that we
inspire the next generation of leaders who want to be ads.
So NACTA provides that. Being on NCAA committees, it allows
you to kind of have a voice in the system
if you will, to effect change to get things done
(10:02):
at the national level. So I think service is important.
Can't forget your day job. Yeah, of course leading the
buck eyes, but I think national service is what people
expect here at Ohio State. And I've always just been
a believer in just helping people kind of climb through
this industry. And NACTA is that great platform. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
How large is that organization?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Gosh, there's eleven hundred colleges and universities right that have athletics.
It's the convention last year was over seven thousand of these,
So anywhere from sports information directors to fundraising people, to
academic advisors to athletic directors. It's a really great mixture
of professionals in college athletics.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
By the way, do you guys ever get like because
you're from all these different schools, get together and play
a game of like pickleball or flight football?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Just curious At the NACTA convention, they always do like
a run, they do like a like a five k.
There's a charitable component to it. I don't know if
you'd want to do that because there's a lot of
competitive people.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, that's what I was saying.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
A lot of us are like out of shape athlete,
so probably shape, but that's a different level, right, that's
a different leve the competitive So I think you get
a lot of people hurt.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
I don't know if we got an injuries, a lot
of you know, sports.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Doctor wall maybe maybe, but you know, otherwise.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Pickleball, they're more interested.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Than any other sport.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Maybe as the president, maybe I can get some new
new ideas well.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
And I will also say, if they ever want to
move that conference to Colombo, do.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
You know who to call?
Speaker 4 (11:37):
We have a whole strategy around that, so.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
We would love to help you.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Hotel room nights, that's right, room nights, that's absolutely right.
So Ross, you've lived and worked all over the us
from Texas to Mississippi and from California to Florida. How
familiar were you with Columbus before taking the position in March,
And how has your time in Ohio compared to other
places that you've lived.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Yeah, you know, the Ohio roots, like I said, run
deep with my mom growing up on the family farm.
I remember my oldest uncle, who's no longer here with us.
He would always wear this T shirt that would say
Woody's Back. And I had no idea what it, man,
I just knew that he'd loved Woody Hayes. He'd loved
what he stood for. He'd loved the historian part of
Woody Hayes and the military part. And my uncle was
(12:21):
a high school teacher up near Bowling Green, and so
he'd always wear the shirt, and he'd always talk about
Ohio State. And then all my cousins and everybody, they're
all Buckeye fans, and so we've known about Ohio because
my mom. We'd come here at least once a year, Thanksgiving, summer, vacation, Christmas.
I remember coming to the State Fair eight nine, ten,
(12:42):
twelve years old, somewhere in there. So we'd Columbus, Was
it seemed far away, even though hour and a half
forty five minutes from kind of northwest Ohio. We came
down here a couple of times during the State Fair,
but otherwise we didn't really come into Columbus. When I
worked at Missouri in nineteen ninety eight, we played a
football game Missouri played Ohio State. I remember coming with
(13:03):
some friends, had family come down. So I've been to
Columbus a few times for other games, for other meetings,
but again I had no idea that it was just
booming the way it is. And then once we started
getting here and learning more about it, it reminds me
of Nashville ten to twelve years ago, Austin years ago,
Like everything is booming, everything is growing, and so the
(13:26):
Ohio roots helped. But then coming in sort of with
fresh eyes also, I was like, wow, this is a
gold mine. This is a great opportunity for us at
Ohio State to really capitalize on all of this. So familiarity,
you know, with the family ties, but then learning more,
you know, as I'm becoming accustomed to the city and
getting to know more people.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Russ, how was your first summer here in Columbus did
you take look I know you're a busy guy, But
does a guy like you take part in any of
the festivals that go on here?
Speaker 3 (13:57):
What did you do? We do? You know, I think
our family, we we just love being, you know, out
and about. We love experiences. So we went to the
state Fair. You know, I'm gonna I'm gonna lean towards
the buck eye part. So what's the favorite food at
the state Fair that day? I mean, everything's fried, right?
How do you pass up a fried buck eye? Like
you take the buckeye and you dip it and yeah,
(14:20):
so that was that was the favorite favorite part of
going to the state Fair. But you know, we just
we walked around and uh, you know, I guess at
that point in time, not a lot of people noticed.
I saw a couple of our staff members and so
I talked to them, but had a ball cap on,
had a you know, shorts and a T shirt and
my wife and I we walked around for half the
day and just kind of soaked it all in. We
(14:41):
went to the Sciota Food truck food. Yeah, that was cool. Yeah,
we went there Upper we live in Upper Arlington. Labor
Day they had an arts festival and they had music
and you know, art displays and you know, bought a
couple of things trying to help the local economy. So
you know, we love those kinds. We love music. Lionel
(15:02):
Richie concert and we went to Chris Stapleton back in April.
I went to the Bruce Springsteen concert.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I'll look at you know.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
We went to a couple of weeks ago. We had
Steve Martin and Martin Short.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, I miss that unfortunately.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
So there's a we we just love those kind of things.
And and again Columbus, I mean, holy Cow, you could
go to a small music venue one night, and then
you could go to Nationwide or the Shot or the
Shoe right right. We had international soccer matches here. Our
son loves soccer. He got into soccer probably seven or
eight years ago. So we went to the MLS All
Star Game. We went to the Aston Villa, you know,
(15:39):
crew match. We hosted a big soccer match.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
I know, did you guys go to that Manchester City?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
That was so just the fact that you're at Ohio State,
You're in a big city, you have all these things.
You know, we we love to soak it all in.
So and we're looking forward to more. We haven't there's
a lot of places we haven't been to yet, right,
and so we're looking forward to more of that as
we get going.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Yeah, so many amazing attractions and things to do. But
sports is a huge part of our city and a
big part of what draws visitors here, from our collegiate
teams to our four professional sports teams to the mini
annual events. How would you describe the Columbus sports scene
to friends?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
To me, there's something for everyone, right again, large scale,
small scale. I think the cool thing is we have
diversity of sport, right you go from professional baseball to
professional soccer to NHL team. We're hosting large scale events.
Obviously at Ohio State. You also have national we have
women's professional women's volleyball team here. I mean, who would
(16:38):
have thought that that would be would be here? And
so things like that, I think something for everyone. Do
we have the NFL? No, But down the road we
had two teams right NBA? You know the Guardians are
a great team right in baseball the Reds, I mean,
so the Cavaliers are you know, one of the best
teams in the Those are right down the road. And
so I think the fact that you can drive to
(16:59):
a lot of play as well. But Columbus I think
has something for everyone. And so again I think large
scale to small scale is what I think of when
I think of the sports scene. You know here in Columbus.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Ross you oversee, if I'm not mistaken, it is the
largest athletics department, isn't it in America when it comes
to college sports and self sustainable, like you don't need
help from the university, which is very impressive. You always
hear about football, but there's also other sports too that
come to mind. You have men's soccer, for example, tell
(17:33):
us about some of the other sports as well.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
You know, I think the something for everyone. Again, if
you want to go to large scale football, you got it.
But if you want to go watch the best women's
ice hockey program, there you go with nine hundred other
people right in a small venue at the OSU ice rink,
which we need a new one by the way, and
we're working on that. But how cool is that? And
then if you want to go watch a top five
men's tennis team and a great women's tennis team, we
(17:59):
have the best indoor facility, the Ty Tucker Tennis Center.
You can go watch that and a lot of our
events are free. Outside of basketball and volleyball and wrestling
and gymnastics and football, a lot of our sports are
are free. We have a brand new lacrosse stadium which
is the.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Oh that's beautifulful lacrosse that so again you can watch
high level sports.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You mentioned soccer. We're the number one ranked team as
of this recording. We're hosting the Elite eight game you
know on Saturday. That'll be a great atmosphere. We had
the largest soccer crowd in the Big Ten history when
we hosted the team up north we'll say their name,
Michigan a few weeks ago for the Big Ten championship.
So there's just a lot of cool things. You know.
(18:41):
You could go down that we have the national championship
pistol team, right, we got fencing that we hosted the
NCAA Championships last year. There's so many things that you
can really point to that says, you know what, I
don't want to mess with football. Okay, but I'm gonna
go watch tennis and there's two thousand people there, and
I'm gonna go watch hockey and there's a thousand people there. Yeah,
(19:04):
you're gonna watch great competition, great young people, people that
do it the right way, and then oh yeah, they're
going to class on Monday, you know. So I think
there's a cool you know, mixture of education and sports
that all of our teams have to offer. And so
I think that's a really cool setting for entertainment if
you will that. If you want something in this town,
you have all of it. So I think that's a great,
(19:25):
great platform. Russ.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I read a fun fact too a few years ago
that synchronized swimming at Ohio State, and correct me if
I'm wrong has more national championships than any other sport.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
There is that true, right, yeah, nineteen Oh wow. Now
we call it artistic swimming.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Okay, so it's not synchronized anymore.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
It's called artistics. See, there's so many sports. I failed
to mention that one too, right, the history of that one.
But again, same thing. You go to mccorkyl the Aquatic
Center and you can watch high level you know, competition.
So there's so many thirty six sports, Yeah, eleven hundred athletes.
To your point, all self, susp we need support, we
need donors, we need ticket buyers, all those things, but
(20:05):
they really the thing that we that we distill every
single day is we help young people achieve their dream
maximize their potential, and whether it's a pistol athlete or
whether it's a high level football player, that's what we do.
So that's that's really cool that we get this opportunity.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
Well, and I love to you know, we often will
highlight things that are free to do around the city,
and I think we need to do a better job
of talking about all the amazing sports that you can
see to your point that you know, don't even require
a ticket.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
That's really that's really cool.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
So there is so much changing in college sports, from
conference realignment to name, image and likeness. What do you
think the future of college sports looks like? I know
that's a really big question question.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yea, how much time do we have exactly that high level?
Speaker 1 (20:54):
High level?
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, that's the next podcast.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, you know, we've had we've had multiple legal threats, lawsuits,
and one lawsuit's going to define the future at least
for the next ten to fifteen years. It's called the
House case. It's a case out in California. It's in
the Ninth Circuit, and what it does is it allows
for us to share revenue with athletes. It allows us
to not have scholarship limits on our teams anymore. We
(21:19):
have roster limits, but we can fund scholarships as we
see fit. We always had these rules where you could
only have twelve scholarships in baseball and eighteen in soccer,
but you'd have more than that on the team, you know,
eighty five football scholarships. All those rules go away. We
can have unlimited scholarships, but we can also share revenue.
That case is defining the current and the future of
(21:42):
college athletics. All of those rules and all the court
implementation goes into effect July one of twenty twenty five,
and that will last for ten to twelve years and
then from that so really the future is going to
be defined by the conferences. The NCAA will still exist,
there's still going to be rules, we need national governing bodies,
(22:02):
we need postseason, but the conferences are going to assume
more sort of autonomy on rule making. What do financial
elements look like? How do we generate more revenue with
our conferences, but also how do we govern ourselves? The
governance the way it works right now. Quinnipiac, which is
a great university, they have their sports programs. They have
(22:25):
the same vote as Ohio State, but yet the economics
and how we play and where we play are different.
So we need to take more control at the higher
conference level, and that's happening right now. So what you'll
see is, I think more local control within conferences, less
national control, and then we need some uniform standards. We
(22:46):
need Congress's help, which kind of sounds scary, right, what
does that mean? What does that come with? But they're
really the only entity that can have a uniform standard
for what college athletics should be. We're not professional athletics.
We're not amateur athletics anymore. We have education in the center,
we have elements of professional but we're not employees. Student
(23:08):
athletes are not employees. So how do you define that?
How do you prescribe that? I think we can take
more ownership at the conference level, and so those are
the things that we're working on. But next year, starting
next year, our athletes are going to receive a scholarship,
They're going to receive revenue sharing for some sports, not
all sports, some sports, and then they can still capitalize
on name, image likeness. That's going to be the landscape
(23:31):
in terms of the financial arrangement between the athlete and
the institution, and that really hasn't been clear, especially for
the last five years. And then we always had a
restricted environment before and now the environment will be more
open where we can do more things for our athletes.
So I tried to distill that you did great, but
(23:52):
there's a lot to it. And the great thing is
Ohio State's a leader. We have a voice. President Carter's awesome.
Our board of trustees have been tremendous in supporting our model.
We're keeping all thirty six sports, We're keeping scholarships for
all thirty six sports.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
That's great to hear.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
We didn't know that was possible even two months ago
or three months ago or six months ago. It is now,
and so we're adapting and we're going to lead. And
you have a great atmosphere so we can continue these
entertainment elements that we all enjoy.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Ross It feels like it's still very much nil wise
the wild West out there is. And if you can't
give a number, that's okay. I'm not really looking for
a number, but is there a number in the future
that nil wise You're going to need to be sustainable
and be attractive to these future athletes or one of the.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Things that this court case does it actually defines what
revenue sharing numbers will look like, and it's a percentage
of certain revenue categories. The first year, it's around twenty
point five million. We'll be able to spend from the
athletic department. Your point, there's going to be needs above
and beyond that. That's just the way the market is.
(25:04):
So we're going to be able to create nil relationships
between companies and athletes, and right now we kind of
have to have an arms length relationship. We can, we
can introduce, but we have to get out of the way.
In the future, we're going to be able to really
help our athletes. What that number is, what that market is,
we don't know yet. We think it in Columbus it
can be robust. We think about the corporations that are
(25:26):
based here, Think about buck guys who own companies who
want to help. What that number is, It's going to
be hard to define at the front end, but I
think once we get going it can be a robust number.
We have a great market. The great thing about being
in Columbus we have a great market versus a small
college town. Maybe your market's limited, so the twenty point
five million will be the first year that'll be defined
(25:48):
above and beyond that. We've got some work to do
to map that out, so it's hard to say exactly
what that number can look like. But you raise a
good point. The market's going to continue to evolve. Does
it level out a little bit, does it go up
a little bit. That's sort of what we have to
map out and wait and see how it works.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Yeah, sounds like it's an absolutely amazing time to be
a collegiate athlete, especially at OSU. And are you really
growing and expanding your team to sort of accommodate because
I think about all the amazing athletes and the companies
and the opportunities and providing those matches.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
That is a lot of we're remaking a lot. You know,
we're moving people that are talented to say, you know what,
you can help us in the nil space. You can
help us in the sponsorship space, you can help us
in the sort of salary cap management, because now we're
going to have this twenty point five and you've got
to manage that, right. You got to talk about player
valuations and things like that. So we're probably not adding
(26:44):
a whole lot of staff.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
We're probably remaking, reallocating.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
And reallocating what we have, and so that process is
happening right now, that undertaking of an analysis to say,
how many people do we need in this area. We
have talented people here, but there's not a need for
those people in that unit anymore because rules changed or whatever.
Let's move them over here. We're doing that exercise as
we speak. So great, great point.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah, exciting opportunities for everybody.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Before. Eugene really set the bar with the creativity of
things that you can do, for example at the shoe
and on campus. And that creativity I would imagine is
going to continue. But I think about, well, Manchester City
and Chelsea FC that match next year, what is it March?
You're going to have the Red Wings and the Blue
Jackets that match at Ohio Stadium. What do you see
(27:33):
on the horizon for the future with not just Ohio
State athletics, but I guess combining forces and partnering with
other sports here in town.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
One of the unique things about this role, and really
back to what you said about Gene. To Gene's credit,
ten or twelve years ago, they combined athletics with what
was called business advancement. Business advancement is really like auxiliary services,
so licensing and merchandising. We oversee the hotel, the Blackwell Hotel.
We have a management agreement with Franklin County to run
(28:04):
Nationwide Arena downtown, so our team manages that, the concerts
that we bring in in the summer, the international soccer matches.
All of that reports up through my position. That's unique
in college athletics. Normally that's a campus unit that's separate.
You don't really get involved in that. You may overlap
a little bit. Here, it's all integrated. So the ability
(28:26):
to be creative is like no other here at Ohio State.
So we have the resources, we have the tools, we
have the people the manpower to pull those things off.
We partner obviously with the Columbus Sports Commission. That's a
great partnership. So we work with Linda and her team
and Sarah and everybody to say, how do we bring
more events. We just got the NCAA Men's basketball tournament, right,
(28:48):
we got the women's volleyball Final four back here, We've
got women's basketball Final four. We can do more, we
can invest more, we can do more. I think we
have to make sure our facilities continue to stay to
par so that takes investment from city, county, businesses, US
Ohio State. So I think all of that goes hand
(29:09):
in hand. But the ability to be creative is already here.
There's universities right now that are creating new entities and
new units to do what we have here at Ohio State.
Because there's flexibility, because there's creativity. So we have a
model program from that standpoint, and that's where I think
we can really do more and we can really be
creative and say, you know what, we're not afraid. That's
(29:30):
I think one thing I've learned about being in Columbus
is no one's afraid of what's next. How do we grow,
how do we take it to the next level, whether
that's city leaders, whether that's Ohio State, whether it's our department.
I think that's what's really cool. So this unit provides
a platform to say, let's go and let's do something different.
So it's a really cool apparatus that we needed to
(29:52):
play in.
Speaker 4 (29:53):
It's another way that we're spotlighting the innovation of Columbus.
So Ohio Stadium or the Shoe is an electric environment
on game day, what or do you have any sort
of favorite moment from this season, especially at being your
first season that you've gotten to be the athletic director
at OSU football, Anything that stands.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Out to you.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Yeah, really, you know, the first game, I wanted to
get there early and I wanted to go. We have
a golf cart, so we have to get around efficiently, right,
and we just drove around the tailgates and I just
we'd pull up on people and they'd be like, who's
this guy? Is this like security, you know, pulling up
in a golf cart, And I would just get out
and I would introduce myself. Hey, where are you from.
(30:34):
Oh we're from Fremont. Oh we're from Cleveland. Oh we're
from Cincinnati. And just so just getting to know people,
I think was really cool. And seeing the elaborate I've
never seen so many ambulances or fire trucks that turn
into tailgating machine. We have a lot of ambulances in
our parking lot, not to treat people, but to tailgate.
So that part I think was really cool. Just to
(30:56):
see the creativity, you know, I think uniformity of bringing
people together is so cool, and we're working on that
inside the stadium. But Skull Session, Oh I.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Love this Skull session.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
My son just got to play at that Upper Arlington
Marching band got to play a session a couple of
weeks ago and it was amazing.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Yeah, And I went to the first one, thinking yeah,
maybe I'll go to one or two. This year, I
went to every single one of them one one, because
I think it's so unique to have a player, a
co assistant coach, and the head coach speak to fans
two hours before the game exactly. Nobody gets that. So
to have that unique environment, to have the best damn
(31:36):
band in the land right there front and center. I mean,
people are waiting in line two hours before to get
into Saint John to watch school session. So I went
to every single one of them. I thought that was cool.
And then I think another really neat thing is when
the band enters the stadium and everybody wants to be
in their seat. Yeah, right, twenty five minutes thirty minutes
(31:57):
before kickoff, we have to be in our seat to
watch the band enter the stadium. So those kind of things,
and then once we you know, we're evaluating our game
day atmosphere, I think there's some uniformity things. I think
we can get our students a little more engaged. So
we're looking at those kind of things. But those couple
of moments, you know, first game was really cool skull session,
and I have a little spot in the bell tower,
(32:21):
so I always hear the bell go off. Uh, So
we go and go in there and listen to the
press conference and then let traffic clear out, and so
you can always hear the victory bell. So there's a
lot of cool things.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
That's so cool to ross on the on the heels
of those experiences as a as a history nerd and
an Ohio State nerd, a college sports nerd, I guess
is probably a better way to put it. Do you
have the keys to Ohio Stadium? And if you do,
are you one to well? I mean, are you? I'm
(32:56):
just thinking if I was Ross Buork, would I go
on the fifty yard line at eleven o'clock at night
or midnight and just take it all in, just quiet,
soak it in.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
I do have keys, I've never had to use them
because it's always been open every time that I've been
able to go in there. You know, I haven't done
that part of it. But you know, our oldest son
had not been to a game, and so he was
in town for Thanksgiving weekend and we, you know, we
get again. We get there early, and I said, hey,
let's go down to the field and let's just stand
(33:28):
there and kind of soak it all in. So there
are moments where we do that and reflect and just
kind of say, wow, you know, we're blessed, we're fortunate.
Haven't done it at midnight. Maybe someday, let's win the
national championsheah, there we go, and then we can do
it after that. But no, I think you do have
to sort of look out the window, if you will, right,
(33:49):
and you do have to cherish certain things about the journey,
and there are moments where you're like, wow, okay, you're
very blessed as a family your experiences. So I'm a
big believer in, you know, take the moments, look out
the window, so to speak. So, but I haven't done midnight.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
So now when you inspired me, do you ever say,
because I'm not originally from here, but do you ever
say to yourself, I'm not sure it's going to ever
get better than this with what you do for a living.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
I don't think. So. I mean, there's just no to me,
there's no way. Again. I love being on campus. I
love being around young people. I saw one of our
lacrosse players at Starbucks this morning and she was studying
for finals, and you know, just be able to say, hey,
good luck, how you doing? Are you ready? How do
you feel? Like? That's so cool? Cool? And so I
(34:41):
love being on a college campus. And then if you
can do it at a place like Ohio State, you
live in a big city, we have the family ties here. Yeah, no,
that's exactly right. You're you're never going to get any better.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (34:53):
So we've talked already that twenty twenty four has been
a huge year in sports for Columbus, from hosting the
US Figure Skating Championship in January to the us A
Fencing Summer Nationals to the MLS All Star Game, which
we all got to participate in. Looking ahead, we're excited
to host the NHL Stadium Series in March, which we
talked about, and in twenty twenty seven, huge year, NCAA
(35:15):
Women's Volleyball Championship, Men's basketball tournament in twenty twenty eight
Women's Final four and twenty seven how do you see
the Columbus sports scene evolving in the next few years.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
I think, you know, we've proven that we can do
it right and do it at a high level, and
so I think we need to continue to showcase that
part of it. But I think it goes back to
what I said earlier. We need to make sure we're
investing as a city, as a county, as a university
to be able to keep attracting these type of things.
And so, you know, if you look at the World
Cup is coming up, I don't know if we can
(35:47):
get back in a cycle quite yet on international soccer
because the World Cup's going to kind of suck a
lot of that energy. So but we want to be
innovative in that scene. We have great partnerships, you know,
in that scene. We want to continue to partner with
the Columbus Sports Commission because I think that's so important
that there's alignment there. We can't do it alone. We
want to continue to host as many earned in Cuba
(36:10):
postseason opportunities, so we can earn women's basketball, we can
earn baseball, we can earn softball, we can earn soccer.
How do we earn those We have to play at
a high level to earn those but how do we
host you know, predetermined you know events at the NC
DOUBLEA level. We need to be creative. We need to
keep looking at those things. But I think investment in
(36:31):
the opportunity, investment in our facilities, investment in forward thinking
that can't go away because otherwise we may lose out
because other cities that they're competing to, right, so I
think we need to be really really strategic and communicate
at the highest level. The Haslim family they continue to invest,
you know, the McConnell family is going to continue to invest.
(36:53):
How do we be a part of that as a
city community leaders, with our sports teams, with our entities.
And I think there's a huge upside because we've done
it before. And everybody that I talked to that sort
of selects these things, they view Columbus as a destination
that can that can handle this because we've done it before.
So that's a really cool asset that we have to
(37:14):
continue to grow.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
So we're gonna switch gears now for the last two segments.
Our next one is called Columbus Classics.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
This podcast is.
Speaker 4 (37:24):
All about uncovering what's new, but we also love the
tried and true places and experiences. I know you haven't
been here too long, but can you tell us about
a Columbus classic experience you love. It could be a neighborhood,
a restaurant, or anything that you enjoy.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
You know, I'll start with the neighborhoods. It's so cool
that we're really like a small town in a big city.
And it's because I think the neighborhood feels that we have.
I mean, you could go to Dublin and feel like
you're in a small town somewhere. Right. We just drove
through Powell, you know, a couple of days ago, and
I'm like, oh, I hadn't been and there's a little
downtown area. You're really cute, right, Grand View, German Village.
(38:02):
I mean, every little pocket has like a downtown. So
I think the small town in a big city feel
is really cool. My son and I we we live
in Upper Arlington, so Griggs Reservoir. So we bought two
kayaks this summer, so kayaking when it's warm enough. It's
a little cold right now, probably too chilly to kayak,
(38:23):
but you know, just being outside I think has been
really cool. So we've discovered the Siota. You know Griggs Reservoir.
Kayaking there, try not to get hit by some of
the power boats.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Have a lot of the rowers.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
Yeah, practice the Ohio State Boat House. Oh yeah, that's
right on the west side of Griggs Reservoir. So we
uh it's funny. First time I went out on the
kayaks by myself and one of the boat patrol officers
pull pulls up and I had my life vest but
it was in the boat, which is legal. But I
didn't have a tag on my kayak and he pulls
(39:01):
me over. This is I won't give the officer's name.
And he pulls me over. Hey, sir, I'm just doing
a safety check. You know, where's your tag? You know?
And then he looks at my name. He goes, are
you the new are you the new athletic director? And
I'm like, yes, sir, And I had a hat on,
you know, it's the summer. And he goes, my wife
is going to kill me that I pulled over. You
(39:22):
didn't pull me over. You didn't pull me over. You're
doing it. You're doing a safety You're doing a safety check.
I go, you're doing your job, you know, and he said, hey,
just you know, make sure you register your kayak. You know,
here's how you do it. And but he was so funny,
he said, my wife's gonna kill me. I pulled over
the new athletic director. I go, you didn't know you
were doing a safety check. So but no experiencing the
(39:43):
outdoors I think is cool to have here in Columbus.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Ross just just out of curiosity with the story that
you just told. You know, we've we've grown accustomed to
gene for so many years, and you take over. When
people find out who you are, if they didn't recognize
you already, do they do kind of a double take
because it's Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
It's a big deal celebrity. Yeah, a big deal.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
You know.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
I've learned that, Look, every word matters, your presence matters,
but it shouldn't be bigger than what it is, right,
I mean, we're still humans. We're husbands or fathers, right,
We wake up every day, we drink our coffee, we're
normal people. So I think you have to try to
normalize it as much as you can, but also know that, look,
(40:25):
it's important. It's not the most important, but it is important,
and so you have to I think have just perspective
but it is kind of funny when you put your
driver's license down or your credit card and somebody may
do a double. My wife gets this sometime, you know,
because be York is not necessarily a common name here
in Columbus. Are you Are you you related to? Yeah,
(40:47):
that's my husband. So it is you know that that's
a neat feeling that people appreciate, you know, the role,
the job. But I think you just have to be normal.
You have to live your life. You can't be afraid.
You've got to just do the thing that I think
are natural to you as a person, as a family.
But it is it is kind of funny that somebody,
oh my gosh, I can't believe I pulled over the
(41:08):
athletic director on the Griggs Reservoir. So you got to
laugh at those moments.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
Well, look, before we close out today's episode, we've got
just one more segment, and that's what you're saying yes
to Columbus this weekend or maybe the season. I'm going
to have you Ross and then Sarah also both answers, Sarah,
why don't we start with you first? Ladies?
Speaker 4 (41:27):
First, what I'm saying yes to this holiday season is
some of the cozy dining experiences that we have in Columbus,
So from Lindy's to guild House to some of the
holiday bars like Land Grant that are out there, just
really taking in the holidays more from like a dining perspective.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Definitely the holiday season. To me, there's nothing better, right
what Christmas stands for in the holidays, and you know,
however you celebrate, I think is awesome. So it's definitely
saying yes to the holiday season. But you know, we've
lived in Texas the last five years, Mississippi for seven years,
we haven't seen a white Christmas. I want to say
(42:07):
yes to a white Christmas. There you go, Boxer, can
you can you deliver on that? Man?
Speaker 1 (42:13):
I don't know if I can deliver, But in the background, you.
Speaker 3 (42:17):
So, how about just a little snow flurry? You know,
nothing too deep, right, nothing too crazy, but just to
wake up, you know, I mean we remember that as
a kid, right, you just wanted to wake up and
you wanted to see snow on the ground. So that's
what we're looking forward to and saying yes to, is
a white Christmas.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Tell you what, when we wrap up and stop recording,
I'll get your address. I have a portable snowmaker, so
I'll bring it over to her. We'll have a white Christmas. Well,
thanks so much for joining us on today's episode. Happy Holidays, Ross,
to you, Sarah, to you and to those listening. And
by the way, if you need inspiration on all there
(42:53):
is to see and do here in Columbus this holiday season,
make sure you go to Experience Columbus and the website
Expeririuscolumbus dot com slash Holidays Ross Byork a real pleasure.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Thank you all so much, you too.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
That's a wrap on this week's episode of Yes Columbus
and Experienced Columbus podcast. Tune in next week as we
take you on a tour of what's new, what's hot,
and what makes Columbus a city on the rise.
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