Ohio State football will almost certainly have full stadium in 2021

Based on what Governor Mike DeWine said in his COVID briefing this evening, there’s no reason why the Ohio State football team won’t be playing in front of a full Horseshoe this Fall.

The Ohio State football team wasn’t able to play in front of any fans in 2020 because of COVID-19. The Big Ten Conference made a decision to not let anyone play in front of fans. It was a real game-changer for everyone in the conference, especially the Buckeyes.

That won’t be the case in 2021. Based on what Governor Mike DeWine said in his COVID briefing this evening, Ohio State will be able to play in front of full crowds. That means that the Horseshoe should be filled up to 100% capacity for games this fall.

In order for this to happen, all health mandates must be lifted. For this to happen, DeWine announced that cases per 100,000 people in the state of Ohio must be 50 or below. That is the metric that the health department is looking at to lift the health mandates.

For context, in December the state of Ohio had over 760 cases per 100,000 people. Just yesterday, it was just 179. In three, months, that number has fallen precipitously. By the time the Fall comes around, there is no doubt that the cases will be under that 50 per 100,000 threshold.

This is great news for all Ohio State football fans who want to watch their team in person. This gives us hope that the 2021 college football season will be back to normal. Now, these are just measures in Ohio. The Big Ten may have all whole other set of rules.

The whole reason no one played in front of fans in 2020 is because of rules set forth by the conference. That could happen again. In that case, DeWine’s metrics don’t mean anything in terms of capacity for Ohio State games.

There will be a time and a place for the conference to decide on such matters. But for right now, this is great news for everyone who is a Buckeye fan.