Spring is close to being sprung (we hope), but the COVID-19 pandemic is not, and Ohio State is still being cautious.
According to statements made by OSU athletic director Gene Smith, the university is not planning on selling any tickets for the upcoming Spring Game, despite Ohio moving towards allowing state pro teams to begin hosting fans at a 30 percent capacity. It is not known how that affects collegiate sports at this time.
“As of right now, we’re just on hold for the spring game,” Smith said in a media appearance. “If we’re allowed to have fans, we will not have a ticketed event. It will not be one where we’ll charge. My hope is that we’ll have an opportunity to develop a strategy to recognize our front-line people — our nurses, our doctors, our custodians, our bus drivers, and all those people who have made so many sacrifices for us for a long time now. That would be my hope, is that we could come up with a strategy to recognize them and invite them to the spring game — and of course, obviously the parents of our student-athletes. That’s kind of right now my thinking, but we’ve got a ways to go before we get to that point.”
There has been no official announcement for the date of the Spring Game yet, but last year, the game was canceled amid the emerging coronavirus pandemic. Head coach Ryan Day has previously stated a plan on playing the game on Saturday, April 17, but all the usual caveats apply in a COVID-19 world.
As far as this fall goes, it’s simply too early to know where things will stand. Smith says he has optimism, especially with vaccines and herd immunity potentially coming into play, but it’s a wait-and-see game at this point.
“I’m like everybody else, I’m curious, I don’t know,” Smith said. “I’m hopeful that what we’re experiencing now from a low positivity rate and number of people in the hospitals and all those types of things, I’m hopeful that those things continue on. And the vaccine and herd immunity and all those things, I’m hopeful that those things continue, and that we have some new normal, whatever that will be, in the fall.”
So there you have it. What we can take away from the Ohio State athletic director is that there are plans for a Spring Game this year, but one that’s nowhere near normal from an attendance standpoint just yet. As more dates and information become officially available, we’ll have them for you.