Nick Lachey Loves Dating a Fellow Football Fanatic

By Kristin Harmel

02/01/2009 at 11:20 AM EST

Unlike other guys, Nick Lachey doesn't have to choose between sports night and date night.

“I’m a huge sports fan and she’s a huge sports fan across the board, too,” Lachey, 35, tells PEOPLE of his girlfriend of over two years, Vanessa Minnillo.

“In fact, football night often becomes date night, which is a nice combo for me,” says Lachey, who was in Tampa Bay Friday night hosting a kickoff party for his Super Skins Celebrity Golf Tournament, a Super Bowl charity fund-raiser he hosted with NASCAR Sprint Cup champ Jimmie Johnson. “She’s down to hang out and go to the game. So it’s definitely something we agree on.”

Also joining Lachey and Minnillo at the pre-Super Bowl party, held at Tampa’s new Hula Bay lounge, were Lachey’s brother Drew, and former ‘N Sync member Chris Kirkpatrick, a diehard Pittsburgh Steelers fan.