Where to Stay for an Ohio State Game Weekend in Columbus

An Ohio State home game turns Columbus into one of the biggest crowds in the country, north of a hundred thousand people packed around Ohio Stadium. If your weekend is built around a game, a little planning on lodging and logistics goes a long way. Here is how we tell guests to do it.

Book lodging the day the schedule drops

Rooms and rental houses near Columbus fill fast for home games, especially the big rivalry weekends. When the fall schedule is released, that is the day to lock your dates. Prices only climb as the game gets closer, and the good group-sized houses go first.

Stay on the east side, drive or ride in

You do not need to be on top of campus, and honestly it is easier not to be. From the east side around Reynoldsburg you are about twenty minutes from Ohio Stadium. Park once at the house, then drive in early or take a rideshare so nobody has to fight stadium traffic and parking twice. A house also gives the group a place to tailgate before and unwind after, which a hotel room does not.

Make a weekend of it

• Friday night: dinner in the Short North or at Easton, both an easy drive from the east side.
• Saturday: the game, with a tailgate at the house before and after.
• Sunday: brunch and a walk at a metro park like Pickerington Ponds before you head out.

Why a house beats a hotel for a game weekend

For a group, a house usually wins on both cost and experience: everyone under one roof, a kitchen for a tailgate spread, a yard and a garage hangout, and parking for several cars. You split it across the group and still come out ahead of a block of hotel rooms, with a lot more room to actually enjoy the weekend.

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