Ohio State played every home football game this season in front of over 100,000 empty seats, but it's looking like those seats could be filled once again come next fall.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine met with the media in Cleveland on Friday to discuss Ohio's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During his appearance, he expressed optimism about the potential for crowds at outdoor sporting events.
If Ohio continues to trend in the right direction with regards to case numbers and vaccination rates, DeWine told Ben Axelrod of WKYC that Cleveland Indians baseball games could even be at full capacity by July 4.
"I've described Opening Day in Cleveland -- Indians at 30 percent capacity, but we could be moving away from that by May 1," DeWine said. "I would hope by the time we get to July 4, we might be full capacity."
Major League Baseball played its entire shortened 2020 regular season with no fans in attendance at games, allowing a reduced capacity for the NLCS, ALCS and the World Series.
This optimism is undoubtedly promising for the Buckeyes as they host Oregon in their first home game of the season on Sept. 11 – nearly two months after the July 4 date DeWine mentioned.
