Not a lot of Columbus-informed people on these boards. Arnold is a draw, but two events not mentioned draw significantly more:
- The annual All American Quarter Horse Congress draws ~650,000 people to Columbus. That's twice SXSW.
- Almost 1,000,000 people visit the Ohio State Fair every year.
Austin gets more visitors for sure, but I wouldn't expect the gap to really be all that large. Looking at airport numbers is kind of silly, because Columbus is easily accessible by car to tens of millions of people. A more accurate measure would be hotel rooms and their occupancy. I think they're about even. Although Austin is attracting higher dollar visitors to higher dollar hotels.
Also, I'm sure Ohio State and Texas both draw significantly for sports, but I'd guess Ohio State draws more. They are more accessible for traveling fans. Also, you can't just look at football stadium attendance. Look outside Ohio Stadium and DKR during a game. There are tens if not hundreds of thousands of people in the vicinity.
Ohio State and Texas both rank highly in research output. Texas gets a slight edge, because its endowment from state-owned oil fields really opens doors. As far as other universities:
Denison >>>> Southwestern
Ohio Wesleyan >> St. Edward's
n/a < Texas State
Columbus State = Austin Community
Capital > n/a
Otterbein > n/a
Franklin > n/a
Ohio Dominican > n/a
Mount Vernon Nazarene = Concordia
Columbus College of Art & Design > n/a
Pontifical College Josephinum = Austin Presbyterian
Safe to say Columbus has more academic prestige among its universities.
Columbus' waterfront is specifically more urban-oriented than Austin's. Though Austin does appear to build closer to it. Columbus for nearly 100 years didn't build west of the Scioto, because of flooding. The flood wall opened in the early 2000s, and development is really kicking into gear over there. Columbus has really made huge strides in cleaning up the rivers, and beautifying them. They've removed dams, spent billions on updating sewers, and done considerable park and greenscape work. I've noticed every year since these efforts really kicked into gear (they're ongoing) more and more people using the waterfront. Thousands of residential units, hotel rooms, and office space is currently under construction adjacent to the downtown rivers. It'll only continue to get busier.
Transit isn't really used much in Columbus, because it's not "needed". Roads and highways are well laid out, and the reengineering of many of Columbus' bad spots have significantly improved traffic flow. Despite a surprisingly dense urban area traffic in Columbus may as well not exist. I've only heard horrible things about Austin's lack of highways, and their explosion in population wrecking their traffic situation. So, they may have better transit, but it's also needed more there, so does it measure up to its need as well as Columbus? Not so sure.
Austin has a more connected airport, but I can't say if it's better. I've never been. I do know Columbus is getting a new terminal in the next few years.
Overall I give the slight edge to Austin in this particular measurement, but Columbus isn't nearly as far behind as it may seem.
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