COLUMBUS, Ohio — The scene on March 1 will be at once iconic and unique.
Ohio State’s marching band will play a pregame pep rally in St. John Arena, then lead a procession to Ohio Stadium, where they’ll walk through the towering rotunda and down a long ramp to the field, with the roar of thousands of fans greeting them.
For fans of Ohio State’s football team, that’s a typical Columbus Saturday in the fall — the traditional “skull session” in the 70-year-old St. John followed by the iconic band entrance at 102-year-old stadium.
But here’s what will be unique: just behind the blaring band as it crosses Woody Hayes Dr. to reach the stadium will be the Columbus Blue Jackets, making their way — in grand fashion — to play in the NHL’s Stadium Series outdoor game against the Detroit Red Wings.
The NHL doesn’t want to give away all of its secrets. They’ll hold a news conference on Tuesday at Ohio Stadium to make some of their plans known in advance of the game, and there will be a steady drip of news — the ice trucks arrive on Feb. 17, the ice will begin taking shape on Feb. 21, etc. — leading up to puck drop.
On Thursday, FanDuel Sports Network Ohio, which airs Blue Jackets’ games locally, will air Stadium Series preview show at 10 p.m., following the Blue Jackets game vs. Utah in Nationwide Arena.
There will be some surprises, too, of course. But here’s what The Athletic has learned so far about the long-awaited outdoor game.
“This is one we can finally check off our bucket list,” NHL president of content and events Steve Mayer told The Athletic. “This is going to be magnificent. It’s just the coolest thing that … all of the traditions that go along with Ohio State and that stadium, really give a lot of options to make for a special event.
“This is going to be a celebration of the Columbus Blue Jackets. They’ve never played in an outdoor game and we’re going to take as much time and energy and bandwidth to celebrate the city and their team and really give them their moment. It’s going to be a great, great day.”
Getting up close and personal with the new @nhl Stadium Series threads 🏒 pic.twitter.com/XEyUdNoG48
— Fanatics (@Fanatics) January 16, 2025
The NHL announced in recent weeks that two prominent bands with Columbus and Ohio State roots — O.A.R. and Twenty One Pilots — will play a big part in the day. but the Ohio State Athletic Band — some 300 strong — will be “a huge part of the environment,” Mayer said.
O.A.R. will do the heavy-lifting during the pre-game show, but the Ohio State band will join them. (The band will also play the national anthem before the game, not Blue Jackets anthem singer Leo Welsh.)
“The final song (pregame) is going to be a collaboration,” Mayer said. “And then the (Blue Jackets) are going to enter St. John Arena and the energy level in that building is going to go through the roof. And from there they’ll go across the way into the stadium, and that — right off the bat, before the game even starts — is going to be a moment of moments.
“The more we’re planning this out, it’s pretty clear that every aspect of that moment is going to be the coolest thing we’ve ever done with the player arrivals.”
Mayer said he doesn’t know how the Blue Jackets players will be dressed, but making the entrance special has become a trend for NHL teams at outdoor games.
The Boston Bruins, for instance, dressed in “Peaky Blinders” attire before they entered Notre Dame Stadium to play Chicago in the 2019 Winter Classic. When the Seattle Kraken took the ice in T-Mobile Park to play Vegas in the 2024 Winter Classic, Pike Place Market fishmongers launched salmon back and forth over the heads of players.
“Teams always lean into their arrivals, but we (the league) don’t ever know what they’re doing,” Mayer said. “It’s the one thing we want to be surprised about, but I feel like that’s going to be a sick moment.”
Tickets are still on sale, but Mayer said the NHL is anticipating an attendance of “well over 80,000.” It will likely be the second-highest attendance for an NHL outdoor game, but it won’t approach the 105,491 who watched Toronto and Detroit play in the 2014 Winter Classic in Ann Arbor, Mich., or the 104,216 Ohio State football averaged this season.
The league had to take a “significant amount of seats out of play,” Meyer said, in order to configure the rink in a way that makes sense. Part of the reason is that Twenty One Pilots’ stage “is ginormous, with all of the lighting and the pyro.”
“I’ve read in a couple of places, ‘Are they going to get to 100,000?” Mayer said. “With the field, the field design, the camera (stations), a broadcast (perch) … we don’t have 100,00 seats to sell.”
IT’S ALMOST HERE 💥
Only ONE MONTH until we make history at The Shoe in our first outdoor game!
🏟️ https://t.co/2phtTsv7Ki pic.twitter.com/x9mXD8ukFB
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) February 1, 2025
As previously known, the Blue Jackets’ famous — or infamous — cannon that blasts in Nationwide Arena, will make the three-mile trip to Ohio Stadium. But even that will have a wrinkle.
“Not only is it coming with us from Nationwide Arena, but nobody’s gonna be able to miss it,” Mayer said. “I’m not going to give you too many secrets, but it’s going to be crazy when it (blasts). The building is absolutely going to shake.
“We have a level of pyro you will not believe. It’s going to be freaking crazy.”
The NHL and the Blue Jackets will set aside time, either before or during the game, to honor the lives of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, who were killed in late August when they were struck by a car while riding bikes near their homes in New Jersey. Johnny Gaudreau spent two years with the Blue Jackets.
Mayer said it would be a “celebration of the Gaudreau brothers’ lives.”
There’s one other element that delights the league about this matchup: both the Blue Jackets and Red Wings are in the thick of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference.
“It’s going to be a hell of a game. Just look at the standings,” Mayer said. “This is going to be an important game between two teams who are trying to make the playoffs.”
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who has told NHL owners to begin making preparations for his retirement, will be in attendance, a league spokesperson confirmed. This could be his last outdoor game as commissioner.
(Photo of Ohio Stadium: Ian Johnson / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
