A student walks into an Express Entry entrance at Saturday’s game. Credit: Michael Goulet | Campus Photo Editor.
For Ohio State fans, getting into the Horseshoe on game day has often meant waiting in long lines before kickoff.
That process looked different Saturday.
Ohio State expanded Express Entry, a facial-authentication ticketing system designed to speed up entry to Ohio Stadium, to public gates as the Buckeyes opened their season against Ball State.
The technology allows fans to enter designated gates using facial authentication rather than stopping to scan a traditional mobile ticket, with the goal of reducing congestion and wait times around the stadium.
For Ohio State alumnus Duane Pullins, the difference was noticeable compared with his experience at the Buckeyes’ 2024 College Football Playoff game against Tennessee.
“This is as easy as I have ever gotten into the stadium,” Pullins said. “My wife and I came here for the Tennessee playoff game two years ago, and it was a nightmare.”?
Ohio State introduced the facial scanner last season, but it was only available in the Huntington Club and student section gates. The software is now available in gates 17 and 20 for fans and gates 34 and 36-38 for students.
With the system now in place, more fans are taking advantage of quicker entry.
Tracy Kitchel, CFAES senior associate dean and director of faculty and staff affairs, attended the game as a fan and used the new system.?
“I signed up for it out of curiosity quite frankly,” Kitchel said. “It is nice not having to dig up my phone and find my tickets at the gate.”
The technology is also helping students wanting to get into the game closer to kickoff.
“We don’t have to save as much time in the mornings,” first-year mechanical engineering student Max Gustavson said, “I did not know how much I would have today, and now I know that I can just kind of walk through, and it’s real quick.”
Kate Nushart, who works in the ticketing department at Ohio State, said that was the primary reason behind the adoption of the software.
“Students like to enter games later, and we want to find the quickest and safest way to get them into the stadium,” Nushart said.
Moving forward, there is hope this service can be expanded all throughout the stadium and continue to attract new fans.
“Our No. 1 thing is growth, and we hope to continue adding more [scanners] at the gates and attracting more people to use it and be interested in the technology,” Nushart said.
Fans can sign up for the service through their Ticketmaster or Wicket accounts by submitting a selfie. Fans then take another selfie using the technology at the gate, and it matches the two selfies to their ticket.?
“It took like three minutes to sign up; it is pretty easy,” Gustavson said.
