Ohio State to Host NHL Stadium Series Game in 2025

The Columbus Blue Jackets will play host to the Detroit Red Wings at Ohio Stadium on March 1, 2025.

A little over a year from now, Ohio State’s football stadium will be packed with fans wearing blue and red, but those colors will mean something much different than they do when the Buckeyes play host to archrival Michigan on the gridiron.

The NHL has announced a Stadium Series game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings to be played in storied Ohio Stadium on March 1, 2025, according to The Athletic. The news was confirmed by The Columbus Dispatch.

The game has been denoted as a Stadium Series game, as opposed to a Winter Classic (which would take place in January) because Ohio State doesn’t want the hockey event conflicting with the end of college football season.

The NHL reportedly sent a group of executives to watch the Ohio State-Michigan State game in Ohio Stadium in November 2022. Steve Mayer, the league’s vice president of creative development, called the visit “a chance to experience Ohio Stadium at full capacity.”

Ohio State is expected to spend approximately $600,000 to improve the heating system at the stadium ahead of the Stadium Series game. Given the venue, the Blue Jackets-Red Wings matchup could rival the record for largest attendance at an NHL game, set at 104,173 for a 2014 Winter Classic game between the Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.