New season, new stadium experience: What’s changing at Ohio Stadium

Ohio Stadium is looking to improve how fans get through the gates, staying connected once inside and their eating options.

With the Buckeyes’ first game against Ball State a little over a week away, a press conference was held in the Ohio Stadium Postgame Press Conference Room Wednesday to announce new features coming to the Horseshoe.

Here are some of the new services and concessions in the ‘Shoe this season.?

New Wi-Fi upgrades

Over the summer, Ohio Stadium aimed to improve its Wi-Fi service to help fans capture memories of the Buckeyes’ home football games this season.?

Ryan Holland, director of Enterprise Networking, said after installing 280 new access points, the stadium will now have about 2,000 wireless points, seeking to increase wireless signal connection in the stadium.

“All of our access points that we installed have an additional radio in them, so that means immediately we’re doubling the capacity inside the Wi-Fi network for Ohio State,” Holland said.?

Holland said the new system should provide a more stable Wi-Fi experience for fans.?

“From the moment they scan mobile tickets at the gate, they should be able to stay connected throughout the concourse all the way to their seats, have a better experience while they’re messaging families and friends, sharing photos and videos,” Holland said. “All [of] that should be much more smooth than it has been in the past.”?

Holland said Ohio Stadium had trial runs of the new Wi-Fi during the Buckeye Country Superfest in June and the July AC/DC concert.?

“Both [events] gave us a little bit of a sampling of what the network’s going to look like and we had all positive results about this,” Holland said. “[I’m] very confident going into the football season, but obviously a full football crowd is going to be the true testament to this implementation.”

Increased Express Entry options

The ‘Shoe is implementing an increased number of gates for fans to enter the stadium without having to use a ticket.?

The Express Entry, which partnered with Wicket, an opt-in facial authentication platform, allows for fans to enter the stadium with facial authentication in place of a mobile ticket. Fans will need to log into their Ticketmaster account, take a picture of themselves, which will be used to scan the fan in at the stadium gate.

“That one selfie is good for any athletics event at Ohio Stadium or at the Schottenstein Center when we have the technology rolled out,” Kate Nushart, assistant athletic director for ticketing, said.

Nushart described that the fans can enroll in the Express Entry on the Ohio State Athletics website, using QR codes outside the stadium or from a link on social media or email.

Last season, the Express Entry opened for the Huntington Club entrance and two student section gates. Now, they are adding more around the stadium.

“We are adding that to gate 20 on the east side of the stadium and gate 17 on the west side of the stadium to open that up to more fans,” Nushart said. “We will also add that in some of our new premium spaces.”

With hopes of speeding up the process of fans entering the stadium, Nushart said fans will not need a mobile ticket to enter the stadium for Express Entry, but will need it once within the stadium to show ushers in their section.

“This is a technology that is completely optional for fans to opt into if they prefer to enter the stadium using Wicket facial authentication technology rather than using their mobile phone,” Nushart said.

New concession options

New food options within the Horseshoe are also being added for this year.

The additional menu choices include a Buckeye Barbecue Box and the Taste of the Competition Burger available in the main gates, a Smoked Cheddar Pimento Cheese as part of the Grazing Package for Premium Suites and Field Suites sections and Chicken Lo Mein located in the Premium Huntington Club level.?

Prices for each of the new concession items were not shared.

A glimpse of the new menu options can be found in the above photo gallery.