Dawg Pound – Syndication Server

Browns sell out all available seats for Thursday’s home opener

Fans still want to see the team even during the COVID-19 pandemic

There won’t be many fans in the stands at FirstEnergy Stadium for Thursday night’s home opener, but it’s certainly not for lack of interest.

The Browns quickly sold out all 6,000 tickets made available for the limited seating capacity for the visit from the Cincinnati Bengals. The reduced capacity at the nearly 68,000-seat venue is due to restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Browns only recently had their plan for the limited seating allowance, with heavy limits on fan movement, spacing and interactions, approved by Ohio governor Mike DeWine.

Season-ticket holders were given priority to purchase the limited rations. Any worries about fans being repulsed by the stripped-down experience, or the Browns’ awful performance in Week 1, quickly went away. Tickets are currently starting at over $200 on the secondary market.

Browns and BWW team up for special Dawg Pound season tickets inside restaurants

It’s still unclear if fans will be allowed to attend the actual Dawg Pound inside FirstEnergy Stadium this year, and it will be limited capacity at best. To help give the Browns fans a place to congregate and watch games with the same energy and spirit, the team has partnered with Buffalo Wild Wings to create a season ticket package for special Dawg Pounds inside BWW locations around Northeast Ohio.

Each season ticket package – which includes four seats per game – will be available at 10 different Buffalo Wild Wings locations throughout the Cleveland area. The 10 Cleveland ticket packages will be sold for $750 each via StubHub (www.stubhub.com/BDubsDawgPound), beginning on Wednesday, September 2 at 10 a.m. ET.

Season ticket holders will receive the following items for the upcoming season:

- Reserved seating for four on all 16 game days (home and away) in an authentic Dawg Pound
- Game day spread that includes 15 traditional wings, 15 boneless wings, a basket of fries, ultimate nachos and fountain drinks for the table
- Custom welcome package with season ticket booklet, orange Cleveland cooler, custom Dawg Pound face masks, shirtless shirts, a sticker pack and more

There are only 1,000 packages available, so act quickly if you want in on the improvised Dawg Pound action at your local BWW.

Thanks to Nick E. at Zeno Marketing for the photos, which are used with his written permission.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine leaves door open for fans in FirstEnergy Stadium

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine leaves door open for fans in FirstEnergy Stadium for Browns games

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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine offered some semblance of hope that fans might be allowed into FirstEnergy Stadium for Cleveland Browns games later this fall.

In an interview on “News 5 at 6” on WEWS Channel 5 in Cleveland, DeWine even left the door open for a limited number of fans in the Dawg Pound for Cleveland’s home opener on Sept. 17th against the in-state rival Cincinnati Bengals.

“It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that we can do this on a small scale,” DeWine said.

The Browns submitted the FirstEnergy Stadium Responsible Restart Plan for approval by DeWine in late August. DeWine did not directly reference the specific plan by name but alluded to aspects of the proposal, which include seating in small pods, closed concourses and assigned quadrants of the stadium with limited gate and parking access.

“The Browns have come up, as have the Bengals, with a very good plan. I don’t have any doubt that the Browns can handle fans, a much smaller number of fans but handle them in the stadium,” DeWine said.

The Browns petition for approval includes allowing up to 20 percent of capacity inside FirstEnergy Stadium, which has a seating capacity for Browns games of 67,895. That would permit just under 14,000 fans for game days.