Ohio State football games against Notre Dame and Michigan are sold out, Ryan Day says

INDIANAPOLIS — Ohio State has sold out its most high-profile games for the upcoming football season.

In his news conference at Big Ten media days on Wednesday, coach Ryan Day said both the season opener against Notre Dame on Labor Day weekend and the regular-season finale versus archrival Michigan two months later are sellouts.

“There’s been a lot of excitement around that,” Day said, “and around this team.”

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Ticket sales have picked after attendance declined last fall and was restricted in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ohio State’s average attendance at the Horseshoe in 2021 was 96,756, the lowest for a season in which spectators were permitted in two decades.

The school sold 53,606 season tickets to the general public, faculty and staff for this year, the highest since 2017.

The anticipation is especially high for both of the matchups against the Irish and Wolverines.

Notre Dame has only visited Columbus twice in its history, and The Game has not been held at Ohio Stadium since 2018.

The rest of the eight-game home schedule includes contests against Arkansas State on Sept. 10, Toledo on Sept. 17, Wisconsin on Sept. 24, Rutgers on Oct. 1, Iowa on Oct. 22 and Indiana on Nov. 12.

Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Contact him at jkaufman@dispatch.com or on Twitter @joeyrkaufman.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football games against Notre Dame, Michigan sellout