OHIO STADIUM
"The Horseshoe"
Ohio Stadium is a historic football stadium located in Columbus, Ohio. The stadium opened in 1922 as the new home of Ohio State Buckeyes Football. The stadium was designed by architect Howard Dwight Smith (a 1907 graduate of The Ohio State University) and cost approximately $1.49 million total to complete.
When completed, the seating capacity was 66,210, and at the time it was the largest poured concrete structure in the world. Many university officials feared that the stadium would never be filled to capacity.
The first game in the stadium was played October 7, 1922 against Ohio Wesleyan University and hosted a crowd of about 25,000 people which was about half the full capacity of the stadium. The formal dedication was held during a game against the team up north, on October 21. The crowd at the time was announced to be 72,000 (but no one is really sure how many people made it into the stadium). The attendance mark was broken again in 1926 (also against the team up north) when 90,411 fans came to support the team, which was also the last time standing-room-only tickets were sold for a game.
In 1923 a cinder track was built around the field, which would later be named for Ohio State track athlete and 4x Olympic Gold Medalist Jesse Owens. The stadium was home to the Ohio State track & field teams until the opening of Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in 2001.
Ohio Stadium was also home to the Columbus Crew during their first few years as a franchise until Columbus Crew Stadium was opened in 1999.
The venue has also played host to numerous large outdoor concerts including U2, Taylor Swift, The Rolling Stones, Metallica, and others. Additionally, many Ohio High School Athletic Association championship football games have been played at the stadium, as well as multiple soccer matches and other football events.
Over time, many renovations have taken place in the stadium, including adding permanent seating (closing off) the south end of the stadium. The additional seats in the south end were added in a configuration that allowed the stadium to maintain its iconic "horseshoe" shape. Permanent stadium lighting was added during renovations in 2014 for the first time, and the official capacity of the stadium was raised to 104,851 making it the third largest stadium in the country and the fourth largest in the world.
The Rotunda at the north end of the stadium is where you'll find many fans on gameday mornings watching The Ohio State Univeristy Marching Band (TBDBITL) arrive at the stadium from the morning skull session. This will be the focal point of your logging requirements for the virtual cache. The Rotunda is adorned with stained glass murals of the Buckeyes football team, and was designed to look like the Pantheon in Rome, Italy.
Ohio Stadium was added to the US National Register of Historic Places on March 22, 1974 under reference number 74001494.
***ADDITIONAL LOGGING REQUIREMENTS***
To log this virtual cache you must:
1 - Visit the stadium rotunda at the north end of the stadium (posted coordinates)
2 - Take a photo of yourself or a personal item with the Rotunda in the background (see below image).
Bonus points for photos in Ohio State attire, or groups of cachers doing O-H-I-O in front of the rotunda. :)
***Note: Please upload images with found it logs. Logs without the required image(s) may be deleted.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.