Q & A with NHL execs about Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings at 'The Shoe'
It’s still 10 months away, but there’s never a bad time to talk about an NHL outdoor game bound for Columbus.
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The Blue Jackets will finally be removed from a rapidly dwindling list of NHL teams that have yet to compete in one of the league’s marquis outdoor events, and they’ll do it at one of the nation’s most iconic sporting venues.
More than a decade after the Detroit Red Wings hosted the 2014 NHL Winter Classic at the University of Michigan’s “Big House,” the Jackets will host the Red Wings ― a different “Team Up North” — at Ohio State’s “Horseshoe,” following years of failed discussions about staging the extravaganza there.
This time, it’s happening, and the NHL is already knee deep in planning for a memorable day March 1, 2025 at Ohio Stadium. In fact, the Blue Jackets recently invited NHL executives Steve Mayer, chief content officer and executive vice president, and Bob Chesterman, executive vice president of entertainment, to speak at Nationwide Arena and visit OSU.
The Dispatch caught up with them between stops for a Q & A about the newest “big game” in Columbus. Here are seven questions, lightly edited, about the Jackets hosting an outdoor NHL game:
Are there things that were learned from the Red Wings’ outdoor game in 2014 that may come in handy?
Chesterman: “I think the one thing is that Michigan was so cold, and the elements were challenging. It was really snowing, and I think that as we’ve progressed, those kinds of elements don’t really come into play as much as maybe they did in the past. Also, with a March 1 game, I don’t think we’re looking at that type of situation, but that was the biggest thing we learned from that experience ... how to work in a big college stadium that doesn’t have the service level and all that stuff during adverse conditions.”
Mayer: “Everybody asks about the weather. It’s the natural question to ask, for those ‘in the know’ or not, but we’ve gotten pretty good with weather. It doesn’t bother us, because we’ve seen it all. Even at Lake Tahoe (in 2021), we thought we were golden, but we weren’t ‘golden’ because it was golden. The sun was out, and the sun with a direct hit on ice? No good. You don’t like that. That’s not good. With rain ... a drizzle is fine, but pouring rain? No good. So, there are certain things that are going to probably hurt your event, but we’ve had both ends of the spectrum, and I don’t think it will affect us.
We’ve also learned how to handle playing in front of big crowds. I wasn’t at the game in Michigan, but we had 90,000 in Dallas. We’ve moved 70,000 and 80,000 into and out of so many different games, and what we’ve become really good at is putting on events with lots of people. We’ve done enough of these now to understand how to handle a crowd like that.”
Where do things stand with ‘winterization’ of Ohio Stadium?
Mayer: “So, Ohio State winterized to a level that we became comfortable with, which was always the problem. Believe me, on both sides, there was complete interest. So, that, I want to make clear. I’ve read some reports like, ‘Ohio State was never interested, and the NHL was never interested.’ We were both interested. We both wanted to do it. Our issue is, we can’t put our event at risk.
We need certain things to be functional for us to do an event with that many people, so until we got to that point, we couldn’t entertain doing the game here, as much as it killed us. And to be honest with you, the soccer stadium (Lower.com Field) is too small. The beauty is we never stopped talking, and I give the Blue Jackets’ organization all the credit in the world. They never let it die.
"J.D. Kershaw (vice president of operations/development), especially, just was constantly brokering conversations. So, when they said, ‘Hey, we’re going to put in an investment,’ not to winterize fully but to do what we felt needed to do, we were like, ‘Let’s go.'"
How much of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry should the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings expect?
Mayer: “We’ve been in places where there are very natural rivalries, and we play into them. So, this is not the first time we’ve had the two NHL teams who represent two college teams, but this is crazy. I didn’t go to Ohio State or Michigan, and I’ve learned all about it, and I think it’s awesome.
“I do think we will embrace the fact there are Blue Jackets that went to Michigan. There’s a very prominent player on the Red Wings (Dylan Larkin) who went to Michigan and is from there. That’s going to be part of the front of this, but we’re also not going to put anybody in a position to do something that will make them very uncomfortable.”
Chesterfield: “It’s another great storyline.”
Mayer: “It is, and one of the things we’re talking to our partner at ESPN about is leaning into ‘College GameDay.’ How cool would it be if Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard were part of our broadcast team? There are so many aspects like that, if you keep going down the line. We’re going to have fun with it. We also know it is not Ohio State against Michigan. We clearly get that, but where we can have fun with it and make it a part of the whole, we will.”
Will finding musical acts with Columbus roots be a thing for the NHL outdoor game at Ohio Stadium?
Mayer: “It’s a thing. We’ve always liked classic rock, a little heavier rock. That was what hockey ‘was’ for a while. Now, we’re more about whatever is popular and whatever plays into where we’re at. In Seattle, we went to ‘Heart’ because they were from Seattle, and Sir Mix-a-Lot, also from Seattle, so we had the rapper opening the game and then classic rock.
In New Jersey, we went to the “Jonas Brothers,” who are pop. They’re from New Jersey. In Nashville, we went to Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley. So, we do kind of play into it, and where we hit the home runs are when we get the local band. So, we don’t have anybody booked. Have we had conversations? Of course. That would be amazing if we could pull it off.
We also really win when they’re also hockey fans. That’s so cool. The Black Keys, who are also from here, played at one of our events in Boston. They’re hockey fans. O.A.R.’s Mark Roberge, he’s a huge hockey fan. He’s the lead singer, went to Ohio State. So, we’ve done our fair amount of research, and we’ve started reaching out. Nobody’s confirmed yet, but music is a big part of these events.”
What is the confidence level for a sellout to watch the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings at Ohio Stadium?
Mayer: “So, right now, that's the other thing being figured out is, ‘How many people?’ One of the things about our events is there are a lot of other things that go on ... there’s staging, there’s sightlines. So, right now, we’re scaling the building. And right now, in April, (10 months) before March ... boy, oh, boy, are we confident. If you ask me in November and we’ve sold 10,000 tickets, we may be less confident. But our goal in every one of these events, and when you look at our track record, 41 games, 41 sellouts, that’s the goal.”
“I do think the fact we haven’t been here, the fact that every single person I talked to today has said stuff like, ‘We’ve waited so long,’ and, ‘thank you,’ this is a city that knows a big event. So, it gives us all the confidence in the world that the crowd that will be there on March 1 will be a (huge) crowd. But we’ve got a lot of work to do, on every level, because these days, there’s a lot out there for people to take in.”
Has the NHL considered taking its All-Star weekend festivities to an outdoor venue?
Mayer: “So, the answer, and I won’t give you where, but ... yes. The answer is yes.”
How much do you think it will add having a large tailgate scene around Ohio Stadium next March?
Mayer: “The football piece of it is awesome. It really is. Now, we’ve started the whole walk to the stadium. Now, that’s become the ‘thing.’ What are the teams going to dress as? What are they going to wear? And that was started at the Air Force Academy (2020 stadium series), because Air Force had this tradition where they would do their walk to the stadium. We said, ‘Let’s replicate that,’ so the next thing you know, every team was doing their own thing. That’s the one piece where we don’t get involved. We’ll give them the route of where they should go, but we actually can’t wait until they get off the bus, because we’re not even ‘in the know’ about what they’ll look like.”
Chesterman: “In Seattle, we’d themed the fishermen and wharf and all that, and the players wound up doing the same thing. When they showed up like that, we were like, ‘Wow, perfect.’”
Mayer: “These guys are ‘all in’ with that. They have team meetings and everything. So, we’re just like, ‘We don’t want to know.’ We’ll give you the route but let that be something where even we’re surprised. It’s just better all the way around.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings at 'The Shoe' Q & A
