In January, Ohio State's football team won its first Rose Bowl game since 1997. Now, fans will have to reach deeper into their pockets if they want to see if their beloved Buckeyes will be successful this season.

According to the Associated Press, Ohio State's Board of Trustees will vote Friday on a proposal to raise the price of tickets by $7, to $70 for reserved seats. Tickets for faculty and staff will rise $4, and students would have to pay another $1 to see a game. Prices for basketball tickets would be raised $1 for a reserved seats to $18, while prices for faculty, staff and students would jump 50 cents. Ohio State, whose last significant price increase was prior to the 2004 season, has the most expensive tickets in the Big 10.Word of the price hike is spreading on the Internet. Ohio State searches were increasing on Google Trends, the search engine's ranking of terms popular with searches. It's easy to see why.

The university is the second-largest in the country with more than 55,000 students on its main campus in Columbus. Its teams are a bright spot for Ohio, which as been hit particularly hard by the worst economic slowdown since the Great Depression. NCR Corp. (NCR) recently left the state after 125 years for Georgia. Diebold Inc. (DBD) said today that it was laying off 350 because of the slowing economy.

Paying a few more bucks to see one of the best football teams in the country seems a small price to pay to forget about bigger problems.