If you’ve wanted to make it out to one of college football’s cathedrals, the 2019 season might just be a good time to take in a game at the Horseshoe.
While there is of course rabid interest in Ohio State’s upcoming campaign to see how new head coach Ryan Day will fare, it seems some of the Buckeyes faithful are not quite as faithful as expected as the program enters a new era without Urban Meyer helming things.
“We were down by about four or five percent,” OSU athletic director Gene Smith said on his new school-produced podcast about the program’s season ticket renewals. “So we usually renew at about 97 or 98 percent. This time, we renewed at 94 to 95 percent. So we had some extra inventory.”
Add in fewer tickets distributed to visiting teams at the historic venue and there were a surprising number of seats still available that the school had to hustle to move for the upcoming campaign. This resulted in a few new “flexible” packages available to purchase that weren’t there before.
AD’s across the country are dealing with attendance issues in college football and it seems that is even a factor with the Buckeyes as they navigate a coaching change in 2019. In a perhaps related note, Ohio State’s remarkable 16-year streak of 100,000+ fans at Ohio Stadium ended last season in a Big Ten matchup against lowly Rutgers in early September.
That said, it’s not like the OSU ticket sales office is hurting for bad matchups to build excitement around. Day will make his debut against Lane Kiffin of all people when FAU opens the season at the ‘Shoe and in-state rival Cincinnati visits during Week 2. The Buckeyes also play Michigan State, Wisconsin and Penn State among others in Columbus too.