Ohio State cheerleaders celebrate a touchdown in the Buckeyes’ Oct. 4, 2025 42-6 win against Minnesota at Ohio Stadium. Credit: Faith Schneider | Arts & Life Photo Editor
At 7 p.m., the line at Gate 36 to enter student seating stretched outside Ohio Stadium.
Micah Lucas, however, walked right in.
The fourth-year in marketing was one of the few Buckeyes on Saturday who took advantage of Express Entry, a student-only entrance that uses facial authentication instead of an entry ticket. The goal is to speed up stadium access for students, and Ohio State Athletics hopes more students will use it in the future.
“If it’s that fast every game, then yeah, I’ll use it,” Lucas said.
Students can opt in to use facial authentication for game access instead of scanning their mobile phone, assistant athletic director of ticketing Kate Nushart said. Students are prompted to sign in to their Ticketmaster account to take a photo of themselves. The facial authentication then compares the photo submitted during enrollment to the person entering the stadium.
The entry points were available for the first time at Gate 34 for Block “O” general admission and Gate 36 for reserved student seating.
Nushart said the technology was added to reduce lines outside the designated student gates, especially close to kickoff. She said there is no space for more standard scanning equipment to speed up conventional entry.
“Especially in the last half hour or so before kickoff, these gates see a ton of traffic compared to all the other gates,” Nushart said. “So what we were trying to do here is really find a new, innovative solution to get students in quicker.”
Students can enroll in Express Entry through a QR code near the entrance of the stadium or on the Ohio State Athletics website. While in the stadium, students still need their ticket to verify their seat location with ushers and redcoats.
Students could first sign up Wednesday, but few were ready to use it. Express Entry does not prevent students from transferring or selling tickets, as active tickets in a Ticketmaster account remain eligible for entry.
Nushart said student use of Express Entry will be evaluated to determine whether it should expand to other Ohio State venues.
Although use of the express lanes was limited early on, less than 30 minutes before kickoff, more students began coming through. Among them was Kaitlyn Thompson, a third-year student in health science, who said she appreciated the speed of Express Entry and the enrollment process.
Thompson liked it so much that she didn’t want to tell her friends about it.
“We don’t recommend it — so we can keep using it,” she said.
