The Buckeyes will square off against Miami at 7:30 p.m. EST on New Year's Eve in the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas.
As of Friday afternoon, Reynolds Travel in Polaris had sold about 30% as many travel packages for the game as the agency had sold for last year's Rose Bowl, which was the Buckeyes' first bowl game of 2024.
Patrick Reynolds, owner of Reynolds Travel, said he thinks people are being a bit "careful" with three playoff games so close together.
"It comes down to what you really want to go to, or games. It is very expensive to do all three games," Reynolds said.
Still, the Columbus Regional Airport Authority expects Dec. 30 to be the busiest day of the season, with 17,600 departing seats booked. On top of usual holiday travel, airlines added about 2,000 seats to the Dallas area to accommodate Ohio State football fans.
Reynolds said Ohio State fans want to go to the games, but traveling to the games — either through an agency package or booking on your own — costs "at least a couple thousand dollars" per person.
Traveling to a bowl game during the holidays can also be more expensive since more people are flying for other reasons. Reynolds said it can also be more complicated for fans who are already on vacation or visiting family.
Plus, the weather makes flying risky. Reynolds recalls that as Ohioans were headed to Texas for last year's Cotton Bowl, a winter storm pummeled the Dallas area.
"I had to rebook everybody on our trip to get them down the night before," Reynolds said. "Sure enough, Dallas airport closed the next day at like 11:30 a.m."
Of course, the main reason fans might choose not to go to the Cotton Bowl is because they hope the Buckeyes will make it all the way to the championship game.
"The national championship game's always going to be the highest in demand if Ohio State makes it," Reynolds said.
