Ohio State football is staring down a full-scale home makeover that will temporarily kick the Buckeyes out of their own house. The university has told donors it plans to spend roughly $125 million to renovate the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, part of a larger push to grow the athletic department toward a roughly $500 million annual budget. The work would force the football program to vacate the building for more than a year, with practices and workouts shifted into temporary spaces such as the Fawcett Center while construction is underway. University officials say fundraising is already in motion and that a mix of gifts and proposals has put the project within reach.
According to The New York Times, athletic director Ross Bjork has described the concept as a gut renovation rather than a brand‑new complex. He told the outlet that Ohio State has already raised, or has offers that would cover, a significant portion of the estimated cost. Leaders, the Times reports, expect to break ground in about 18 months if fundraising and approvals stay on schedule. Once shovels are in the ground, the Woody Hayes complex is expected to be taken fully offline for more than a year.
What the plan would change
Inside the building, the blueprint focuses on how players and staff actually move through the space. Plans call for an enlarged locker room, an expanded training area, new weight and recovery spaces, and a reorganized equipment flow so deliveries no longer cut through team areas. Eleven Warriors, summarizing a Q&A that first appeared in the Columbus Dispatch, quoted Bjork outlining a largely internal reconfiguration, complete with a new entrance and modernized film and meeting rooms. Administrators say the emphasis is on everyday efficiency for athletes and staff rather than a flashy outward expansion.
Money and the larger budget
Bjork has consistently framed the Woody Hayes project as one piece of a broader effort to scale Ohio State athletics toward a roughly $500 million operating budget in the coming years. As reported by The New York Times, he has described that figure as an eventual target as sponsorships, premium seating, and other revenue streams grow.
Aggregated NCAA reporting compiled by analysts shows Ohio State's 2025 operating revenue and expenses at roughly $259,634,646 and $320,394,965, respectively, numbers that highlight the distance between current finances and that half‑billion goal. NIL‑NCAA provides the underlying aggregated figures.
Who’s driving the push
The renovation drive is very much tied to the man now running the department. Ross Bjork, who officially became Ohio State's senior vice president and Wolfe Foundation‑Eugene Smith Endowed Athletics Director in 2024, has put fundraising and new commercial revenue streams at the center of his agenda. The university's hire announcement points to his previous stops at Texas A&M and Ole Miss and his role leading capital campaigns tied to facilities projects. That background helps explain why administrators are taking the Woody Hayes pitch directly to major donors right now, according to Ohio State Athletics.
What fans and campus should expect
Administrators say they will roll out renderings, a detailed fundraising timetable, and other specifics as donor commitments firm up, and they have emphasized that the building's location and name will not change. Sports Business Journal has noted Bjork's broader push to grow commercial revenue, including premium seating and sponsorship patches, as a key strategy to pay for capital projects like this one.
In the short term, fans and nearby campus neighbors should expect at least one season of practices staged offsite and a very visible construction zone on the north edge of campus as the renovation takes shape.
