This or That: Which Ohio Stadium special event are you catching?

We will take any excuse to take in an event at Ohio Stadium… Except Buckeye Country Superfest. Nobody needs to see that, especially in the sweltering heat Columbus saw yesterday.

Luckily there will be another reason to get to The Horseshoe before the 2024 Ohio State football season begins, as well as a one-of-a kind event on the books for 2025.

In early August, Ohio Stadium will be the setting for a friendly between EPL powerhouses Manchester City and Chelsea. The two squads will be in the midst of a tour of the United States ahead of the start of the English Premier League season later in the month.

Then on the first day of March in 2025, the Columbus Blue Jackets will finally play an outdoor hockey game at Ohio Stadium. While it feels like a game should have been played in the iconic setting years ago, the NHL and Ohio State were finally able to come to an agreement for the speciality contest to be played at The Horseshoe, as the Blue Jackets will be hosting the Detroit Red Wings.

Today I want to know which event you are getting down with. There are numerous reasons why it feels like the Blue Jackets game will win out, but since it’s the dog days of summer and not much else is going on, why not at least have a little discussion and give both events a little shine?

Manchester City v. Chelsea – Aug. 3, 2024

Earlier this year it was announced the Citizens and Blues would be making a stop in Columbus as part of their United States tour. Manchester City is fresh off their fourth straight EPL title, while Chelsea is trying to return to the top-four after rebounding from a 12th place finish in 2022-23 with a sixth-place finish in 2023-24. This friendly should feature appearances from some of the best players in the world who spent the earlier part of the summer playing in the European Championship and Copa America.

A number of years ago I attended the friendly between PSG and Real Madrid at Ohio Stadium. Even though the match meant nothing since it was on the heels of the 2016 FIFA World Cup, it still was an interesting event to attend. Since it was at the end of July, it was unbearably hot but that didn’t keep a big crowd from taking in the battle of two of the best teams in Europe. About the only thing missing from the match was an appearance from Cristiano Ronaldo. PSG went on to win 3-1.

It’ll be interesting to see if the crowd in early August can match the 86,000 who saw PSG and Real Madrid play back in 2016. One complaint I have heard…