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What time do gates open at Ohio Stadium?

Gates open about two hours before kickoff at most big college stadiums.

Ready Time can tell you when to leave for your game →

So when do you leave?

Your leave-by time is the first travel row. Ready Time can alert you when it comes up. Put in your kickoff time, tap any duration, and the plan recomputes backward.

Kickoff
15 min Final pack & check 10:28 AM
15 min Drive to the stadium 10:43 AM
15 min Park & find your spot 10:58 AM
15 min Walk to the gate 11:13 AM
12 min Gate security 11:28 AM
10 min Walk to your seat 11:40 AM
10 min In your seat for the anthem 11:50 AM
Kickoff 12:00 PM

College football game day at Ohio Stadium, home of the Ohio State Buckeyes. For a concert here, start from the concert night plan instead: doors and a support act, not gates and kickoff.

Get an alert on game day when it’s time to leave for Ohio Stadium.

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Ready Time

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At a glance

Gates open
About two hours before kickoffTypical at most big college stadiums; check the official site
Bags
Clear bag onlyCheck the official site for sizes
Drive
About 15 min from ColumbusWithout game traffic · real drive
Transit
COTA bus from downtown
Parking
Park & find your spot
Ohio Stadium seen from the air, in Columbus.
Photo by Pi.1415926535, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized for this page.

Kickoff windows at Ohio Stadium

Kickoff times are TV windows, and which one a given Saturday lands in is usually announced only six to twelve days before the game. Pick yours once it is announced and every step before it moves.

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Windows are published in Eastern Time, and Ohio Stadium is on Eastern, so what you read is what you get.

Weeknight games, season openers and neutral-site games run their own times. Type those in on the kickoff row.

Getting to Ohio Stadium

Route 315 is the artery and Lane Avenue is where it stalls. Roads near the stadium flip one way on game day, which the maps apps do not know, so trust the signs over the phone. COTA's regular buses run up High Street every fifteen to thirty minutes and leave you a walk in from the east edge of campus.

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Woody Hayes Drive closes at the stadium four hours before kickoff, and police turn cars without a pass away from Lane Avenue at 315, so pick your lot before you leave instead of driving toward the stadium to look. Grills belong in the surface lots; the garages ban them.

Gates, the queue, and what you can carry in

Clear-bag policy at most college stadiums, and a few ban bags outright, clear ones included. Getting it wrong usually means walking back to the car and re-entering the line.

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Check current sizes and door times on the official Ohio Stadium site before you go, because the door time moves for a night game or a TV switch.

Every gate runs walk through detectors, and the ticket barcode only appears about 48 hours before the game, so add it to your phone's wallet the day before. The Skull Session at St John Arena opens its doors about three hours before kickoff and fills; if you are going, treat it as its own step and walk to the stadium with the band.

Leave time for packing up the tailgate

A tailgate feels open-ended until it isn't: grill, food, lock the car, walk to the gate with the whole lot. Add one and those steps go in, which means leaving earlier.

Gates, lots and bag rules change; the official site is the live source.

Common questions

How early should I get to Ohio Stadium?

Gates open about two hours before kickoff at most big college stadiums; that is when the crowd starts arriving, not when you have to. Without a tailgate, being through a gate about an hour before kickoff covers screening, the walk to your section, and a stop on the concourse.

When should I leave for Ohio Stadium?

Work backward from kickoff: minutes in your seat beforehand, walk to your section, gate screening, walk from the lot, parking, then the drive (15 minutes in the default plan). That puts leave-by at 10:43 AM for a 12:00 PM kickoff. Change the kickoff time and every row moves.

What time is kickoff at Ohio Stadium?

It depends on the TV window, which is usually announced six to twelve days before the game. On this stadium's clock: a noon game kicks off at 12:00 PM, the mid-afternoon window at 3:30 PM, a night game at 7:30 PM. This example uses the Saturday noon window. Weeknight and neutral-site games run their own times; the kickoff row is editable for those.

How long does the security line take?

The plan allows 12 minutes for a normal walk-through queue. It runs longer in the twenty minutes before kickoff. Arriving fifteen minutes off that peak is usually enough.

What time do the gates open at Ohio Stadium?

Two hours before kickoff is the common practice at big college stadiums. It moves for a night game or a rescheduled kickoff. Check the official Ohio Stadium site for your game.

How early should I get there to tailgate at Ohio Stadium?

A short tailgate adds about an hour and a half; a full one closer to three. For a 12:00 PM kickoff that already means leaving well before lunch. Watch packing up and the walk to the gate. Those get squeezed when the lot is having a good time.

What can I bring in?

Assume a clear bag or no bag. Check the stadium's own page for current sizes. The timing risk is being turned around at the gate and walking back to the car: the walk twice and a second trip through the queue.

Flying in? The airport pages. Taking Amtrak? The station pages. No stadium listed? The tailgate timeline is the same plan without a particular lot.

The countdown to kickoff, on your Lock Screen

Start the plan in the app, and the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island show the time left, with a bar that fills as each step passes.

Glance at it on the walk in without opening the app.

Every step also gets its own alert, and sharing the plan gives whoever is driving the same leave time, with alerts on their phone.

Live Activities are part of Premium, a one-time unlock.

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Ready Time

You know what you need to do. Ready Time helps you know when to start.

Other stadiums

More on being ready on time