Ohio State Football: The Team That Transformed A State

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Ohio State Football: the team that Transformed a State

Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus; the three big C’s, the three major cities in Ohio.

Cleveland and Cincinnati, each forged with their own distinct identities and both complete

with multiple major professional sports teams. While Cleveland and Cincinnati might both be

known as “Rust Belt” cities, the areas have grown to adopt an identity out of the designation,

embracing the term as a part of what their cities represent; old industrial towns built on the

pillars of hard work and toughness.

But, since Columbus is a new city relative to Columbus and Cincinnati, it lacks the

identity that its Ohio brethren both possesses. Additionally, it is important to acknowledge

that the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds and

Cincinnati Bengals all play major roles in the cities they are located within. For example,

during the Fall in Cincinnati and Cleveland, Sundays revolve around going to and getting

together with friends and family for Bengals and Browns games.

Similarly, Indians, Reds and Cavaliers games are all marquee events in Cleveland and

Cincinnati. Resident of these cities will often wear jerseys and apparel of their hometown

teams wherever they are in the country, reflecting the pride and identity they posses from

their professional sports teams.

While Columbus has a higher population than both Cleveland and Cincinnati, the only

professional sports teams in the city are the Columbus Crew and Blue Jackets. However, the

Crew are part of the MLS (the four major sports leagues in the United States are the NFL,

NBA, MLB and NHL) and the Blue Jackets have only been around since 2000 and have only

made the playoffs twice in their existence. Thus, due to the lack of national relevance of the

Crew and the lack of success for the Blue Jackets until this season, neither team has been

able to provide any sort of identity to Columbus or the Central Ohio area.

While it may not be obvious that sports teams go hand in hand with providing a city with

an identity, Indianapolis is a prime example of why sports do in fact bring an identity to an area

that is otherwise lacking. “In the 1960’s, Indianapolis was a racetrack in the middle of a

cornfield” (Masciotra, City Lab). The city’s lone claim to fame was the Indianapolis Motor

Speedway; the home of the Indy 500.

Indianapolis still hosts the Indy 500, but it is now also home to the Indiana Pacers,

Indianapolis Colts, a minor baseball team, 200 restaurants, 300 stores, 28 museums and art

galleries, and 12 theaters. Attendance at downtown attractions has gone up 84 percent since

1994, and a plethora of major corporations have made downtown Indianapolis their

headquarters. The Midwest city has earned a surprising reputation as a “tech hot bed”. The

New York Times dubbed Indianapolis a “thriving culture scene,” and the Los Angeles Times

called the success of its revitalization project, “breathtaking” (City Lab).

So, what is the identity of Columbus you may be asking. To that, I would answer with

the Ohio State University, located in the heart of downtown Columbus and affectionately

refer to by local residents as simply “OSU”.

Ohio State is a unique university. Instead of being merely an institution of higher

learning, it is a nation of fans, full of individuals both with long relationships with the school

and no prior affiliation except living in the area alike. Ohio State fills a void for a city

desperate to find an identity, serving as a unifier in Central Ohio that allows the inhabitants

of the area to quench their human desire to come together in tribal like groups, all rooting for

a common goal. Sundays spent rooting for the Browns or Bengals to those in Cleveland and

Cincinnati are how Saturdays in Columbus are spent rooting for the Buckeyes. To residents

of Columbus, there is no need for a professional sports team, the Buckeyes are the

professional sports team.

The Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals, both longtime NFL franchises, are worth

$977 and $905 million, respectively. The Ohio State football program is valued at $1.1 billion,

the first ever college program to reach the one-billion dollar plateau (WBUR). Not to mention,

each home game at OSU’s Ohio stadium brings in an astounding $7.5 million; 270 thousand

dollars from parking revenue, 380 thousand dollars from concessions commission and $6.5

million from ticket sales. Tickets to Ohio State games start at $79; coupled with the fact that