Ohio State Football Forum

Ohio State Football Forum

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This Week's Question: If Ohio Stadium Has A Reduced Capacity This Season, How Should Tickets Be Distributed?

Dan Hope's picture
June 8, 2020 at 8:00am
22 Comments

Momentum is building for fans to be able to attend games at Ohio Stadium this season – university president Michael Drake said Wednesday that Ohio State's “hope and intention is to safely have a football season, with an audience spaced out in our stadium,” and on Friday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine approved a plan for the Memorial Tournament to host fans in July – but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Shoe likely won't be able to host its usual crowds of 100,000-plus fans this year.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith has said reduced capacity could range anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 fans – depending on the restrictions that are in place for the state of Ohio at the time – which could create a tricky dilemma in determining how to distribute tickets. Ohio State announced Friday that 44,320 fans renewed their season tickets for the 2020 season, but that doesn't account for players' families, students, faculty and staff or people who would typically purchase single-game tickets.

Smith said last month that the families and guests of players and coaches would be a high priority, and that the university's Priority Points system would also be used to help determine who gets tickets, but what else needs to be taken into consideration? 21,716 students bought season tickets last year – how many should be set aside for students this year? Should all season-ticket holders have the opportunity to attend at least some games, or should those with the most points get to go all season? Should there be a number of tickets set aside for single-game buyers, or should those tickets only be sold if there's extras after player families, season-ticket holders and students are accounted for?

Share your suggestions and debate below.

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