Two Major Hurdles Before Jackets Can Play Outside
The NHL formally announced on Monday that next year’s Winter Classic would be held in Seattle; featuring the Kraken hosting the Vegas Golden Knights. It will be a matchup of the league’s two most recent expansion teams, which means the league will now have just three teams who have never played in an outdoor game: The Arizona Coyotes, Florida Panthers, and Columbus Blue Jackets. Today we’ll explore what it might take to get the Jackets into one of these games.
Obviously, the Winter Classic – or any stadium series game – is something every team in the NHL would love to host. It brings something new, a fresh way to see an NHL game, typically with huge capacity that brings big revenue. But to get to host one of these events, you need one very important thing: an outdoor venue.
I know what everyone’s thinking: Ohio Stadium is an outdoor venue. It’s historic, it would make an excellent backdrop, and we could fill the stadium with over 100k screaming Jacket fans. I have to admit, it would be a magical environment to see a hockey game. I’ve only been to one Buckeye game in my lifetime, but it’s something I’ll never forget – the stadium alone leaves a big impression. Imagine a New Years Day hockey game at this beauty:
But it’s been made clear that the Ohio State University isn’t really open to sharing the stadium for such an event. Blame old plumbing, blame stubbornness – it doesn’t really matter because as things stand, it isn’t going to happen. It’s their playground, and they don’t want anyone else’s kids playing on it.
There is a second option here: Lower.com Field, home stadium for the Columbus Crew. This is something I brought up early in the summer, when everyone was getting upset about OSU AD Gene Smith bringing up the old plumbing at the Ohio Stadium. Lower.com Field has some serious positives on its side: it’s just a short distance away from Nationwide, which means the league could use the entire Arena District as its backdrop for an outdoor game.
Imagine spending the morning at the RBar, meeting up with many of your closest fellow Jacket fans, and having a march over to LDC Field for puck drop. The design of the stadium would look pretty neat with a hockey rink in the middle as well.
The only downside I can see to this idea, is that the stadium seats just 20,371. While that’s a full 2,000 more people than you get in a typical Nationwide sellout, is that enough to make an outdoor game worth it for the NHL? It’s hard to say. But, I do think the atmosphere would be incredible, and if done right, it could become one of the more memorable outdoor games.
For just a minute here, let’s pretend that our venue concerns are non existent. We can play an outdoor game at Lower.com Field – or even Ohio Stadium (dreaming, I know). The NHL wants to bring an outdoor game to Columbus to showcase the event in a new market, but there’s still one big issue…
These Jackets stink.
Look back at the history of these events, and you will find a smattering of games highlighted by all-world superstar talent (think Sidney Crosby vs Alex Ovechkin). You’ll see games highlighted by original six matchups (Boston Bruins or Chicago Blackhawks). Or, big TV marketability (New York, Los Angeles, etc).
What you don’t see in these events: lottery teams. Which is exactly what the Blue Jackets are this season, like it or not. The biggest thing the Blue Jackets can do to attract one of these events to Columbus, is to build an exciting, competitive team.
Maybe they’re on their way, but it’s going to be at least 1-2 more years before they can get there. But, if this team is rolling out a Stanley Cup contender at any point, it will be impossible for the league not to give them some kind of showcase event. That’s the way these things work – look no further than the Carolina Hurricanes, who are hosting a Stadium Series game next month in Raleigh, NC.
Outdoor NHL hockey in Raleigh is not something that anyone probably ever thought they would say. But the Canes are really good, so here they are, hosting the Washington Capitals, in February, a month where their average high temperature is 54 degrees.
It’s fair to compare the two teams – more so than it is to compare the Blue Jackets to, say, the Minnesota Wild in this regard. You can expect a historically hockey mad city like Minneapolis to get an outdoor game; that’s exactly the kind of look the league wants to have in these events.
But Raleigh, North Carolina? Or Columbus, Ohio? You don’t think of hockey right away with either of these cities. The Hartford Whalers relocated from Hartford in 1997 to become the Carolina Hurricanes. If you’re old enough to remember the events that led up to this (like myself); you’ll recall that then-owner Peter Karmanos wanted to move the team to Columbus, but the voters of our city rejected a tax to cover the costs of a new downtown arena.
So he chose the next location on his list to move his team, and they wound up in Raleigh. How much differently would things be if you swapped the Blue Jackets out for the Canes right now? Would we have our outdoor game, with Rod Brind’Amour having moved to Columbus, coaching the Blue Jackets, instead of Raleigh, coaching the Canes?
It’s hard to say. But, you can make the comparison that the Canes, as constructed, are where the Jackets hope to be in 2-3 years. At which point, we can get out our pitchforks (or, muskets and cannons, if you prefer) and rally to NHL headquarters, demanding an outdoor game to showcase our Stanley Cup contender.
Until then, I’m in no hurry to see our Jackets get lambasted 9-4, or worse, on national TV again. And the league isn’t in any hurry to promote a roster that is half full of AHL players and prospects, nor should they be. So don’t take offense that the Kraken get an outdoor game before us. They’ve built a winning team through whatever means they had. Now we just have to do the same.
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