Football season ticket sales are moving along at Purdue, but it's still unknown how many fans will be in the Ross-Ade Stadium stands in 2020.

According to a post on the school's athletic website today, Purdue "has had more than 26,000 season tickets claimed, including over 1,400 new season tickets and 6,300 student season tickets, known as the Boarding Pass."

"As our student-athletes return to campus this week and begin preparing for the fall season, we are actively engaged in planning appropriate strategies to provide the safest possible environment for attendance at our athletic events. We have developed a number of seating capacity scenarios, but all options that include fans in the stands have a primary objective of safely accommodating as many season ticket holders and students as possible," said Purdue A.D. Mike Bobinski in the release.

"We have seen tremendous season ticket growth over the last three seasons and are working hard to provide opportunities for them to cheer on their Boilermakers from the stands. While many questions are yet to be answered, our commitment to accommodate as many season ticket holders and students as possible in a safe and responsible manner in Ross-Ade will remain a priority."

What will be the capacity in Ross-Ade in 2020? The school didn't confirm that in today's statement, saying until "the final capacity scenario for Ross-Ade Stadium is confirmed, mini-plans and single-game tickets will only be sold once we are certain they can safely be admitted in the stadium."

Last week (June 4) while testifying as a witness before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on how to safely reopen college campuses in the fall, Purdue president Mitch Daniels said capacity in Ross-Ade Stadium as a starting point wouldn't exceed 25 percent in 2020.

“We are not looking at going beyond one-fourth of the capacity of our 57,000-seat stadium right now,” said Daniels. “This has been mapped out just as we have mapped out class rooms and dorm rooms to measure distance and exceed the requirements.”

Bobinski shed further light and provided additional clarification on the athletic department's plan later on June 4.

"We are exploring several scenarios related to fans attending Purdue Athletics sporting events this fall," Bobinski said in a release. "An initial plan uses a model of 25% capacity in Ross-Ade Stadium but that could be adjusted up or down as conditions evolve in the months ahead."

Schools across the nation are wrestling with the uncertainty of having spectators at football games this season as the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

How many fans could be safely admitted? How will they be kept socially distanced? The questions are numerous as schools look to limit exposure to others that could lead to a surge in those infected by the coronavirus. Despite the logistically hurdles, plans must be made as schools need the game-day revenues that football games generate to keep athletic departments afloat.

Purdue's home opener is Sept. 12 vs. Memphis, the first of six games scheduled to be played in West Lafayette. The Boilermakers open the 2020 season on Sept. 5 at Nebraska.

Purdue averaged 54,021 fans last season. The program averaged 51,120 in 2018 and 47,884 in 2017.

Sept. 12 Memphis

Sept. 19 Air Force

Oct. 10 Rutgers

Oct. 31 Northwestern

Nov. 14 Wisconsin

Nov. 21 Iowa

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