COLUMBUS, Ohio –– Fans will be back at Ohio Stadium on April 17, although the Spring Game crowd will be far from pre-COVID-19 capacity numbers.

The Ohio State Department of Athletics announced Thursday that capacity will approach 20,000 for the Buckeyes’ football exhibition scrimmage at the Horseshoe in nine days, with tickets going on sale to the general public at 11 a.m. on Monday.

“On behalf of the university and the Department of Athletics, I want to sincerely thank Gov. DeWine, Dr. Mysheika Roberts and Columbus Public Health, and Mayor Ginther and the City of Columbus for their collective leadership throughout this pandemic,” Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said in a release.

Of those seats, 10,000 will be designated to front line workers from the Wexner Medical Center and other groups on campus, with 4,500 available for sale to the public, and 2,500 allotted for students at no charge. The rest of the crowd will be comprised of family members of the Ohio State players and coaching staff.

“We are not through this health crisis yet, but the collaboration among all of these entities has enabled us to safely return fans to our venues and, in particular, Ohio Stadium next week for the spring game,” Smith said.

This year’s Spring Game will be Ohio State’s first since April 13, 2019, as the 2020 exhibition was canceled due to the spread of COVID-19.

Attendance for the 2019 spring game topped 60,000, which gave Ohio State the third-largest crowd of any program in the nation for a spring scrimmage that year.

Family members for both home and away teams were initially allowed to attend Buckeye games at Ohio Stadium this fall per protocols across the Big Ten, but as COVID-19 cases continued to trend upward in central Ohio, attendance was restricted even further toward the tail end of Ohio State’s home slate.

On March 24, the Big Ten lifted its conference-wide attendance restrictions, instead opting for programs to follow their local guidelines state-by-state.

Kickoff will take place at noon on April 17, and the game will be televised on Big Ten Network. For more information and the full Ohio State release, click here.