Ohio State’s athletic director wants changes to the college football calendar.
After experiencing the full grind of a Buckeye national championship run that lasted all the way until Jan. 20, Ross Bjork told ESPN that if college football wants to avoid “unintended consequences,” it must adjust the College Football Playoff and transfer portal windows.
“We've had so many disruptions over the last five-plus years that I think the time is now to not be reactive, be proactive,” Bjork said. “When we had this setting here with the commissioners, our job was to provide feedback on what was it like to go through the 12-team playoff ... but it all gets impacted by the calendar. I felt it was important to lay that out with everyone in the room to say, separate from the CFP process, if we don't fix our calendar as an industry, then we're going to continue to have unintended consequences.”
Bjork voiced his concerns recently in the CFP's annual spring meetings, joining CFP executives and the other three athletic directors of schools that made the playoff's semifinals: Notre Dame's Pete Bevacqua, Texas' Chris Del Conte and Penn State's Pat Kraft. Bjork voiced concerns that, with classes beginning on Jan. 6 for Ohio State, academic advisors had to travel with the team and athletes had to miss classes.
The Buckeyes also had to apply for waivers around countable athletically-related activities, as teams are normally limited to 20 practice hours per week while school is in session.
"When you don't have class, there is no limit to CARA hours," he said, noting that Texas started classes later. "It created some disadvantages. It all goes back to what's countable CARA hours, NCAA structure. The portal is the next big conversation after the House case and truly what kind of rules can we set? Will we have the authority around transfer rules to set some parameters?"
The schedule for the 2025-26 CFP was released Wednesday and includes similar dates to this past season, with the quarterfinals on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, semifinals on Jan. 8 and 9 and the national championship game on Jan. 19.
NEWS: The College Football Playoff and ESPN have announced dates, kick times and broadcast information for the Playoff Quarterfinals, Playoff Semifinals and the national championship game for the 2025-26 edition of the CFP.
— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) April 22, 2025
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Bjork also called for a change to the transfer portal window, wanting a 10-day period in May for all fall sports. He told ESPN that this will align with revenue sharing if the NCAA House settlement is approved, as he expects most athletes to sign their revenue share agreements in June.
