Since Ross Bjork started as Ohio State’s athletic director, one of his biggest goals has been to improve the gameday atmosphere at Ohio Stadium. On Tuesday, he introduced multiple changes the Buckeyes will be making this year.
The “Tradition Evolved” initiative is a way that Bjork says the program can enhance the atmosphere at football games while still embracing the storied traditions at Ohio State.
Part of that will be using the victory bell before games and getting someone to ring the bell to send the team out of the tunnel. Bjork said that two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin will be the “victory bell ringer” for the Week 1 game against Texas. Griffin will also help select people to stand in for that role in the future. Bjork wants those people to be former Ohio State football players, famous Ohioans and more.
There will also be 100,000 towels distributed for the Week 1 game against Texas branded “The Towel.” The towel won’t be distributed after the first game, but will be available for purchase afterward.
“What can we bring to the table that unifies our fans into more passion, more energy?” Bjork said. “We say we have the best fans in the nation and we want our fans to wave that towel and be energetic every single time.”
Bjork used the first game of the College Football Playoff last season against Tennessee as an example for the environment he wants to create at Buckeye games beginning this season.
Bjork said that the fans will also have some incentive to be loud. Fans will be able to earn a virtual Buckeye Leaf that will go on the video board.
” It’ll be similar to baseball stadiums where they have a strikeout chart,” Bjork said. “Block O, our student organization, will have a chart of Buckeye Leafs. Every time we get a third down, we make a false start on third down or somebody has to call timeout because it’s too loud.”
Bjrok also said there will be three color outs this year for the fans. For the Texas game on Aug. 30, the Buckeyes are doing a “Scarlet the Shoe,” asking fans to wear scarlet. The night game against Ohio on Sept. 13 will be a helmet stripe game, and the game against Penn State on Nov. 1 will be a black out.
Bjork said improving the gameday experience is something he wants to continue to do, so these changes won’t be the last coming to the stadium, though others might not be until future seasons.
