Indiana's Memorial Stadium will be at capacity Thursday night when No. 2 Ohio State rolls into Bloomington for a season-opening primetime tilt.
It's official! We're sold out.
— Indiana Football (@HoosierFootball) August 30, 2017
: https://t.co/Gg2vfPOO6m pic.twitter.com/fdj8WWOoLX
With ESPN's College GameDay in town and an expected massive influx of Ohio State fans, it's easy to see why Indiana coach Tom Allen called this the biggest home game in program history.
From the university:
"With ESPN Football College GameDay in town for the first time ever, a capacity crowd, and a highly ranked conference opponent and divisional rival, it promises to be an electric atmosphere at Memorial Stadium on Thursday night," said Glass. "This sell-out crowd reflects the level of excitement about this team and we cannot thank our fans, especially our students enough for buying these tickets and showing us support. We strongly encourage fans to get here early to help our team compete in a tremendous atmosphere against a top quality opponent."
In anticipation of a sell-out crowd, IU Athletics had already planned to open gates at 5:30 p.m. (a full hour before the usual 90 minute time window) for the 8:00 p.m. kickoff to allow fans to get to their seats to watch ESPN College GameDay presented by Home Depot on the video board, and to shorten lines before kickoff.IU Athletics added 27 additional ticket scanners to get fans through lines quickly, and hired three additional professional event managers to specifically deal with line management issues and concerns on gameday.
IU Athletics will also place staff members on tennis umpire's chairs to monitor lines, direct fans to shorter lines, and to move staff appropriately to help with lines. As part of the Department's new security policy, IU Athletics also purchased 61 walk-through metal detectors, well above the recommended amount, to keep lines short and efficient.
Should be a fun one. Kickoff slated for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
