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Ohio State's 2020 season ticket renewal rate was 88 percent or 44,320 tickets.
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OSU season ticket holders renew, but how many will be able to watch?

ASSOCIATED PRESS

OSU season ticket holders renew, but how many will be able to watch?

COLUMBUS — Scarlet and gray has coursed through John Schlessman’s veins for a lifetime.

The Ohio State graduate and president of the university’s Erie County alumni club has a deep, unabashed love for his alma mater. So if the 2020 college football season kicks off and Schlessman receives his tickets, he will be inside Ohio Stadium.

“Tell me what the rules are, and I’ll follow them,” he said, enthusiastically. “That’s what I feel from a personal point of view. Of course, there would be disappointment [if I didn’t have tickets], especially because they are just killing it with recruiting.”

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A quandary is fast approaching Ohio State’s athletic department: how many tickets will be available, and who will get them?

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Athletic director Gene Smith said in May that OSU was devising models that could allow 22,000 people to attend games and safely socially distance. He said that number could expand to as many as 50,000 if guidelines are relaxed. On Wednesday, OSU president Michael Drake said the intention is to have “audience spaced out” in the stadium. 

Ohio Stadium has a capacity of 102,780, which means a significant number of students, staff, donors, and average Joe Buckeye fans will not be allowed to attend. According to Smith, the ticket office’s age-old point system will be used to determine access.

“We have to look at those and come up with some strategies within those groups,” Smith said. “Our point system has held the test of time, so that would probably be one. Then, of course, the parents and the guests of our student-athletes and coaches would be a high priority. We’d come up with a strategy, but we haven’t nailed that down.”

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The season ticket renewal deadline was May 29, two months after the original date of March 27. The renewal rate was 88 percent (44,320 tickets). OSU sold about 10,000 tickets during the two-month extension. There were nearly 51,000 season tickets in 2019, a renewal rate between 94 and 95 percent. Students were responsible for an additional 21,716 tickets.

The seven-game home schedule averages out to approximately $100 per ticket. Ohio State football tickets are among the most valuable currency in the state. And the avenue to purchasing them is not as simple as calling up the ticket office.

Unless you’re a student or former athlete, the Buckeye Club or President’s Club is your only option. Both booster organizations require an annual donation that sometimes exceeds the cost of the tickets.

Ohio State said if the season is canceled, ticket holders will be funded. The assumption is those season ticket holders who do not receive tickets in a reduced-capacity Horseshoe would also receive refunds.

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The coronavirus pandemic’s health-related factors and potential financial fallout has created vast uncertainty. Still, all of the nearly one dozen season tickets holders The Blade spoke to opted to renew their tickets — most of them eagerly.

Maumee resident Jeff Savage, a former Ohio State track athlete who’s had a lucrative business career, not only renewed immediately, he also booked hotels for each game. Malcolm Goodman, a retired attorney from Marion, didn’t hesitate to re-up.

“I'm not as fearful of being outside,” said Goodman, 71, a season ticket holder for two decades. “At my age, I'm not prone to go inside a restaurant. But I would sit outdoors. The same goes for the stadium. If they're going to have two empty seats between every person, you're not sitting too close to anybody. I don't think that would deter me from going. I would be careful about restrooms and take normal precautions, but I don't think it would keep me from going.”

In April, Seton Hall University’s Stillman School of Business conducted a poll of 762 Americans, gauging their interest in attending sporting events in the coronavirus era. Seventy-two percent said they would not attend games without a vaccine, with just 12 percent of respondents saying they would go if social distancing could be maintained.

“Ohio State’s been a passion of mine for a long, long time, and my hope would be that we could get back to normal as quickly as we can,” Tiffin native Mark Davis said. “But the reality of the situation is nothing has been normal for a while and nobody knows for sure how long it will take for this to resolve itself. I think post-COVID-19, everyone is going to have some trepidation in every walk of life.

“At my age [64], I tend to trust that the university is not going to have fans back in the stands until there's some indication that there’s some level of safety. Would I consider going back when the university says that they are going to allow fans back in, even if it’s a reduced number? Yeah, I would consider that. I’d have to assess the situation as it existed at that time.”

As states reopen, attitudes toward attending sporting are changing despite significant restrictions in place preventing fans from watching in-person.

“I’d have no trepidation whatsoever,” Schlessman said. 

Jeff Breymaier, a Toledo dentist and OSU graduate, experiences the impact and inconvenience of the coronavirus each day, calling the virus a “game-changer.” The conditions of his daily work life have been altered considerably since March, from being closed for business to having extensive limitations.

Away from the office, he’s eschewing indoor restaurants. But an expansive stadium with reduced attendance isn’t something that conjures pangs of fear.

“I don't think 20,000 would be a problem,” Breymaier said. “If you're outside, that really reduces your risk. One way or another, I’ll be watching them.”

Seventy-six percent of respondents in the Seton Hall survey said they would watch broadcasts of games without fans, proof that the appetite for live sports is high. Seven percent said they would be more interested when sports returned and 16 percent said they would be less interested.

“Ohio State football is an incredible spectacle,” Schlessman said, “and I want to continue to go watch.”

First Published June 3, 2020, 11:08 p.m.

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Ohio State's 2020 season ticket renewal rate was 88 percent or 44,320 tickets.  (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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