{"id":534200,"date":"2026-04-01T06:04:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T06:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/534200\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T06:04:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T06:04:34","slug":"clippers-home-opener-blue-jackets-push-bring-crowds-to-arena-district-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/534200\/","title":{"rendered":"Clippers home opener, Blue Jackets push bring crowds to Arena District"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio  (WSYX) \u2014 It was a busy Tuesday night in the Arena District as baseball and hockey fans packed into downtown Columbus.<\/p>\n<p>At Huntington Park, fans streamed through the gates for the Columbus Clippers\u2019 2026 home opener. Excitement was high as families, friends, and longtime supporters returned to the ballpark.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just want to see some good baseball,\u201d said 9-year-old Clippers fan Jackson Wright.<\/p>\n<p>Opening Day, being on a Tuesday, also brought back a fan-favorite tradition: Dime-a-dog night.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReady for some hot dogs,\u201d one fan said, while another added, \u201cDime-a-dogs are more of the tradition\u2014we\u2019re Dime-a-dogs, folks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Just a block away, Nationwide Arena was buzzing as the Columbus Blue Jackets continued their push for a playoff spot. Fans described an intense atmosphere as the stakes continue to rise late in the season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, it\u2019s playoff hockey. It\u2019s going to be intense\u2014every play matters,\u201d said Jackets fan Ryan Deel. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be on our game. Gotta get this win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even fans without a rooting interest joined in on the energy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith my team out of it, I\u2019m just happy to see some playoff hockey,\u201d said Rob Pinchot.<\/p>\n<p>The overlap of two major sporting events brought thousands of people into the Arena District\u2014providing a significant boost for nearby businesses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey all come in at once\u2014Clippers, Jackets, Crew,\u201d said Janvier Ward, owner of <a href=\"https:\/\/creole2geaux.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Creole 2 Geaux<\/a>. \u201cWe just keep things moving and bring a lot of smiles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ward said a single game night can increase business by about 25%. When multiple events happen at the same time, that number can climb above 30%.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEspecially with two (games) at once, it\u2019s always a good day,\u201d Ward said.<\/p>\n<p>Businesses say they staff up and prepare for the surge, working to keep up with demand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) \u2014 It was a busy Tuesday night in the Arena District as baseball and hockey&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5108],"tags":[3644,5180,897,230,5179,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-534200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-columbus-blue-jackets","8":"tag-blue-jackets","9":"tag-bluejackets","10":"tag-columbus","11":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","12":"tag-columbusbluejackets","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116327944344305917","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}