Please excuse the crudeness of my example.

On the right, we already have the date, I do not see why it needs to be on the left also. I think the space could be used more efficiently.

For me personally, I would rather have a visual representation of what the event is about, in the same way it works for downloads.

Anyone else agree or feel it is fine as it is.

Neat Idea

 

I prefer the date personally (it still provides much use as it makes the line stick out and gets your attention). Unless the cover photo image gets resized to that size and not just scaled with CSS/HTML.