COLUMBUS – Extra security measures will be in place in and around Ohio Stadium for Saturday’s home game against Michigan State and university officials are recommending fans get to the stadium gates early to allow for screening.
The heightened vigilance is in response to last Friday’s terrorist attacks outside a soccer stadium and in a music venue, which left 129 people dead.
Click here for more information.
“I think this is a direct result of what’s going on around the world. We’re trying to respond to that,” OSU Athletics Director Gene Smith said Monday. “I think this is the beginning of different changes that you’ll see down the road.”
Only clear 14-by-14-inch bags will be allowed into the stadium for the Buckeyes home game (3:30/ABC). Backpacks will not be permitted but small “clutch bags, approximately the size of a hand” will be allowed, as will medical items.
There will also be additional security in the areas outside the stadium, said acting university police Chief Craig Stone.
“We set up a buffer zone, so there won’t be any large vehicles entering into that buffer zone larger than the size of a van,” he said. “Any vehicles entering the buffer zone to set up is only by approval, pre-approval, and those vehicles are still checked and swept for bombs.”
Fans entering the stadium won’t be subjected to metal detectors. Smith says the university has looked at using them, as the NHL has begun to do, but the size of the crowds for a home Buckeye game may make it too difficult.
“We’re slightly larger than Nationwide Arena, 108,000 people,” he said.
Nevertheless, fans should get to the stadium early because the process of moving fans inside the Horseshoe will be slower than usual.
“We’re going to pay a lot more due diligence at gate, so it might take you a little longer to get in,” said Smith. “So the earlier you come, the better…we’d encourage people when the gate’s open, come on in.”
Gates open for Saturday’s game at 2:00 pm.