COLUMBUS, Ohio – Change is coming in the expanded Big Ten. Expect Ohio State and Michigan to play in the same football division and the Big Ten to play nine or even 10 conference games. That's what Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith thinks and wants, and in conference matters like these, what the Buckeyes want goes a long way.

What will happen for sure, as soon as the Ohio State Board of Trustees approves it Friday, is that it will cost more to see the Buckeyes in Ohio Stadium.

The board's finance committee met Thursday, with Smith in the room to answer questions, and fully backed a plan to increase football ticket prices from $70 for $79 for standard games. For the first time, Ohio State will go to a premium pricing structure, charging more for one or two football games per year.

In 2013, that game will be Sept. 28 against Wisconsin and cost $110. In the future, there will be one or two premium games per year, with a home game against Michigan always falling under a higher price. That determination of how many premium games, and which ones are chosen, will be made before each season, based on the expected quality of the opponents.

In years when one premium game is chosen, it may cost $175. In years when two premium games are chosen, one will cost $125 and the other $150.

Basketball ticket prices also will increase, by $6 for the best seats. And as many as five Big Ten games a year may be designated as premium games and given higher prices.

Those Big Ten games will include Rutgers and Maryland starting with the 2014 season, and that will cause everything in the conference to be looked at. Conference ADs have been holding teleconferences, and they have several meetings scheduled in the next several months. Smith has expressed his preferences before, but he was as strong as he has ever been Thursday about what he thinks the future holds.

The idea of nine conference games has been talked about for years, but Smith has little doubt about it now.

“Just listening to the different telephone conversations, I'd be surprised if it's eight,” Smith said. “Right now, I think we can get to nine. The debate is whether you can realistically get to 10, which would be better.”

Nine games means some teams would play five conference home games, and some four. But playing 10 conference games would make it far more difficult, or impossible, for teams to get the seven, and sometimes eight, overall home games they need to make money.

“If we want to go to 10 games, and we could no longer have seven home games, that means we have to be made whole in the television package, so it all intersects,” Smith said.

As for divisions, realignment is on the table, and Ohio State and Michigan have basically changed their mind from what happened in 2011. Now they want to be in the same division, and expect them to get that. The realization has come that the potential of an Ohio State-Michigan conference title game after the Ohio State-Michigan regular-season game wouldn't be a good thing.

“If we decide it doesn't hurt the conference, whatever alignment we come up with, we prefer to be in the same division,” Smith said.

As for the tickets, charging different prices for different competition isn't new. But Ohio State's upper range for the best games will be higher than the norm. For example. Alabama football tickets this year, according to the schools's website, cost either $85, $70 or $55, depending on the opponent. An assistant ticket director at Oregon said the Ducks charged $93, $88, $66 or $39, depending on the opponent.

Alabama won the national title this season, while Oregon finished No. 2 in the final AP poll and Ohio State No. 3.

Smith said the school did not consider lowering the prices for lesser games, because those games are selling out at current prices. He also said he doesn't believe the increase will change the types of fans who are able to, or choose to, come to Ohio Stadium.

“Buckeyes fans are passionate. They're committed not just to the contest, but the experience,” Smith said. “I don't think it'll change that much.”

Ohio State hadn't raised football ticket prices in three years, and Smith said the move was made now because the athletic department needs the money. He said several projects to fix athletic buildings need to be covered, including resealing Ohio Stadium ($4.3 million), a new roof on the football building ($2.2 million) and new turf on the indoor football practice field ($600,000), a new track ($1 million) and a new irrigation system at the school golf course ($ 3 million).

Smith said this pricing structure should make the department an extra $6 million per year, $5.2 million from football and the rest from basketball. The fact that ticket brokers often get higher prices than face value for the best games was part of this decision, Smith said, but not the driving factor.

If the Buckeyes stop selling out for football, the plan would be reevaluated, but Smith doesn't think that will happen.

OSU ticket director Brett Scarbrough said the school in 2012 had 26,000 seats for students and 13,666 for faculty and staff among the nearly 103,000 seats in the stadium, and those tickets are sold for less than the public price. Smith said most schools don't reserve that many seats for those groups, but he did not want to cut that number to raise more money.

Smith also said he wants the athletic department to continue to give money back to the university, and he said cutting some of the 36 varsity sports is not on the table. So football ticket prices are going up. For some games, by a lot.

Updated at 10:15 p.m.