Greater Columbus Sports Commission Coming Up Big in 2024

Q/A with Linda Logan, CEO of the Greater Columbus Sports Commission

This has been quite the year for the Greater Columbus Sports Commission, hasn’t it?

2024 has been one of the busiest years in our organization’s history. We started the year hosting the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. We hosted some NCAA championships in March and then really had a very busy spring and summer at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, hosting the USA Volleyball Open Championships

In the summer, we hosted the USA Summer Nationals for USA Fencing. We had over 6,000 fencers here in Columbus, including some of our medal-winning Olympians, so we got a little bit of sneak peek preview of what the fencing scene was going to look like in Paris. To cap off the summer, we also had the “Summer of Soccer” with hosting some marquee events: the MLS All-Star game at Lower.com Field and a great friendly Stadium Series event at Ohio Stadium with Chelsea versus Manchester City clubs. We’ve just had so many exciting events that have made it a successful year for us.

Surely hosting all of these great sporting events has to bring a sense of pride, right?

I still marvel at all the excitement that has been generated over the years by us hosting these events, and it’s contagious. I think there’s such momentum when you host a big event and then it goes so well. That’s a testament to our amazing staff and all the people that support us: our amazing hospitality community. We have some of the finest facilities in the world right here in Columbus. And we really have such community pride. When we host these big events, they go well and then we get to host another one, because our reputation as a cool host city continues.

Columbus hasn’t always been such a destination for sports. What has it been like to witness its evolution?

I’ve been in Columbus for over 30 years, and it’s been great to see the growth of the community. We were a state and regional destination for such a long time, but over the years we’ve become one of the best destinations in the country nationally. Most recently, the Sports Business Journal voted us in the top 10 for cities to host sporting events. And that was a huge point of pride. Because when you look at the list, it’s clear that we share the spotlight with some of the largest cities in the country, which makes us all very proud.

Is there something about the people of Columbus that allows these types of events to really flourish?

Columbus is one of the best sports cities in America, and it’s because of the people who live here. We are rabid fans. We buy tickets. We want to be there for those events, whether it’s our local teams such as the Buckeyes, Blue Jackets or the Crew, or viewing the big events on television like the Olympics and World Cup. We are always at the top of the list for viewing as well. So again, it’s just that sports mentality. People show up when you host big events in Columbus, and that’s something that we’re very, very proud of.

Do you have a favorite sports memory while working with the Greater Columbus Sports Commission?

While being in this chair here at the Sports Commission, we’ve overcome some adversity. We first bid on the NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four in 2008, and we were not selected. It made us come back and rethink our strategy and our hotel community.

I really think that loss helped us build the new Hilton. And even the Hilton Tower. So, out of that loss came some amazing things for us. We ended up making some improvements to our city and won the bid to host the 2018 NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four instead. That was an amazing tournament with three buzzer-beater games.

I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the women’s Final Four because it was 10 years in the making, and we had to overcome some adversity to host it. But in the end, it was better for us because the city had grown up a lot. In addition to the Hilton, the Greater Columbus Convention Center had gone through some major renovations. So, the city that the basketball community would have seen in 2008 — if we would have won the first bid — was a far cry from the city that they saw in 2018. And with that, I think it worked in our favor.

What does the future look like for the Great Columbus Sports Commission, bringing sporting events to our city?

We’re really just hitting our stride. We’ve celebrated our 20th anniversary, and we are looking ahead to the fact that we have these excellent facilities and the infrastructure to support us. The barriers that were once a challenge for us no longer exist — we were able to overcome so many things. And as we look to the future, we have an opportunity to host again some of the returning events that hopefully are in the rotation every few years. We’re also looking at some of the Olympic Trials and the USA Gymnastics events. The future is very bright for the sports scene in Columbus.