CLEVELAND, Ohio — Football fans in the buckeye state geared up for the battle of Ohio between the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals. 

What You Need To Know

  • Fans were allowed into the game, but only at a 10 percent capacity

  • About 6,000 fans were allowed to be in the stadium

  • Gus Angelone, known to Browns as Pumpkinhead, was one of the fans in attendance

“I thought it would be kind of fun to, you know, carve a pumpkin and put it on my head and wear it to the game,” said Angelone. “It was like an instant sensation. I got on TV, they put me on the Jumbotron, you know, next week I was, you know in promo commercials for the upcoming game and it was kind of just spawned off there.”

A season ticket holder for 17 years, he was a little worried he wouldn’t be able to find tickets to celebrate his son's birthday, with the Browns only allowing about 6,000 fans into First Energy Stadium. 

“To be honest with you, I don’t know what a Browns home game looks like, you know from the television, so I was kind of panicking a bit until I secured tickets on Wednesday."

Fans coming into the game will not only be walking through metal detectors, but there will also be signs on the ground, reminding everyone to stay six feet apart. 

“When you first get your tickets, they email you your tickets with a full email of all the precautions they’re taking, and they’re making fans go at certain allotted times to get in, and certain sections and certain gates you can only enter. And you have to stay within your pod during that game with your concession stand and stuff like that,” said Angel Jimenez from the fan club, Browns Backers With a Twist, who was able to get tickets.

He had to abide by rules such as social distancing, wearing a face mask or covering, a pre-event self-health screening, and cashless concessions. Rules he was willing to follow.

“With everything with COVID, we understand, like I understood if I would have go no tickets at all, it would have been completely understandable, but the fact that we’re still able to keep tradition going and go like we do every year, I take my friends, my brothers and family. It’s a blast man, we always have fun going.” 

And for Angelone, he’s happy to have football back and be where he’s supposed to on the day the Browns play at home. 

“Browns games are so precious, you only get eight a year, you know. We try to do a couple of road games, but it’s not like, you know, the Indians or the Cavs where there’s hundreds,” said Angelone.  

“I know my family and a lot of other families, you know, schedule family events around browns games, so it’s like, you know football season, you know when that calendar turns to September, it’s all about the orange and brown.”