Red Wings vs. Blue Jackets Set for 2025 NHL Stadium Series at OSU's Ohio Stadium

The Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets are headed outdoors.

The Blue Jackets will host the Red Wings in a Stadium Series matchup at Ohio Stadium, home of the Ohio State football team, on March 1, 2025, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced Saturday.

In a way, the matchup brings a longstanding college football rivalry to the ice with the team from Ohio and the franchise from Michigan going head-to-head.

Of course, in the Michigan versus Ohio State college football rivalry, the Wolverines have dominated the Buckeyes of late, winning their last three matchups dating back to the 2021 season.

Will the Red Wings be able to keep the Michigan tradition going with a win over the Blue Jackets?

The game comes at somewhat of an awkward time for both franchises.

The Blue Jackets, which sit eighth in the Metropolitan Division with a 16-26-10 record, are on pace to miss the playoffs for the fourth straight season. The Red Wings, which are fifth in the Atlantic Division with a 27-20-6 record, haven't made the playoffs since the 2015-16 season and are currently fighting for a postseason spot.

That said, both franchises boast some solid star-level talent that should make for an exciting matchup. Columbus has a lineup that includes Johnny Gaudreau, Zach Werenski and Adam Fantili, and Detroit has a roster that features Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat and Moritz Seider.

The 2025 Stadium Series marks the first-ever outdoor game for the Blue Jackets. They have hosted major NHL events, such as the 2007 draft and the 2015 All-Star Game, at Nationwide Arena, but haven't participated in an outdoor game.

The only other NHL franchises to have not played an outdoor matchup are the Arizona Coyotes and Florida Panthers.

The Blue Jackets had been clamoring for an outdoor game over the last several years, but Ohio Stadium previously wasn't an option because the university said it couldn't host an outdoor matchup deep into the winter months due to the stadium not being winterized and water being shut off to the building after the final football game of each season, per The Athletic's Aaron Portzline.

However, Ohio State "recently committed to spending $600,000 to upgrade and improve the heating system in the building, and the NHL indicated that those changes would be sufficient for them," Portzline added.

The matchup is a Stadium Series game and not the Jan. 1 Winter Classic because the university did not want a major event on campus to distract from the end of the football season, per Portzline.

For the Red Wings, the matchup will mark the fifth time they've played outdoors. Detroit played in the 2009 and 2014 Winter Classics, the 2016 Stadium Series and the 2017 Centennial Classic.