The attendance at Ohio State home football games fluctuated more in 2025 than in recent years, according to scanned ticket numbers obtained by The Dispatch through a public records request.
Ohio State averaged 88,490 scanned tickets over seven games at Ohio Stadium, about 85% of the average announced attendance and largely flat from previous seasons, even as the crowd sizes varied more week to week.
The announced attendance figures include the number of tickets distributed, as well as marching bands, spirit squads, media and event staff, according to a school spokesperson, a widespread practice across college football that leaves scanned ticket totals to provide a closer glimpse into how many fans are actually in the stands.
When the Buckeyes hosted Rutgers for their final home game in late November, the number of scanned tickets was 75,746, more than 20,000 fewer than the number of scanned tickets for the heavily billed season opener against Texas three months earlier.
It was the widest disparity between the Buckeyes’ most- and least-attended home games in a season since 2021. The gap was 13,041 in 2024, 10,518 in 2023 and 19,843 in 2022.
While the Buckeyes remained unbeaten during the regular season, mounting an attempt to repeat as national champions for the first time in school history, the quality of their opponents heavily influenced how many seats were filled at the Horseshoe, one of the largest stadiums in the nation, with its capacity of 102,780.
Texas was ranked No. 1 in both major preseason polls, and Ohio State counted 95,995 ticketed fans for the high-profile matchup against the Southeastern Conference powerhouse, a total that not only marked a season-high but also the most for a game not involving archrival Michigan since Penn State in 2017.
But Rutgers was heading toward a finish below .500, and it resulted in the first time since 2022 that Ohio State had fewer than 80,000 scanned tickets for a game. The turnout was its lowest since it reported 73,611 tickets scanned for a nonconference game against Akron in 2021, and the scanned attendance was the lowest for a Big Ten game since it had 67,463 against Rutgers in 2018.
The number of no-shows against Rutgers last year was significant, considering the announced attendance of 100,023. Ohio State announced at least 100,000 in attendance for all seven home games last year.
Grambling State, a member of the Football Championship Subdivision that visited the Buckeyes for their second game, resulted in the year’s second-lowest scanned attendance at 81,165.
Beyond strength of schedule, other factors impacted how much of a crowd the Buckeyes drew in 2025.
Ohio State reported 93,731 ticketed fans for their final nonconference game against Ohio, a Mid-American Conference school less than an hour and a half’s drive from Columbus.
It also had 91,963 ticketed fans against Penn State in November. While the Nittany Lions were unranked and had fired longtime coach James Franklin only weeks earlier following their 3-3 start, few teams in the Big Ten represent as big a brand.
The turnout for games not only boosts the atmosphere in the stadium, making for a louder crowd and more intimidating environment for opponents, but it also carries implications for the athletic department’s bottom line.
The more fans who show up, the more who might purchase parking, concessions or merchandise, allowing Ohio State to generate more revenue from games, not insignificant for a department looking to offset rising expenses in college sports’ nascent revenue-sharing era.
Ohio State football scanned ticket totals
Here’s the full list of scanned tickets for the Buckeyes’ seven home games in 2025 from most to least:
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Email him at jkaufman@dispatch.com and follow him on @joeyrkaufman on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football attendance more uneven in 2025, ticket scans show
Reporting by Joey Kaufman, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
