2025 Stadium Series: 5 Takeaways From Steve Mayer’s Press Conference

We are now just 24 days away from the 2025 Stadium Series game between the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets at Ohio Stadium. Representatives from the NHL are in Columbus now to start their final preparations to ensure everything for the game is ready to go.

NHL President of Events & Content Steve Mayer held a press conference inside Ohio Stadium on Wednesday. While he certainly didn’t give away everything that is coming for the game, some pieces of information came out.

For now, we are going to discuss five takeaways from Mayer’s availability. We’ll discuss things from how long this has actually been in the making to how the NHL has improved their presentation of the game over the years. We’ll also touch on ticket sales and the weather because we know you’ll track it everyday from now until the game.

Game Was Years in Making

There has always been talk about a potential game for Ohio Stadium dating back years. On Wednesday, Mayer admitted how long the game has been in the making.

“We started talking to Ohio State and to the Columbus Blue Jackets almost five years ago,” Mayer said. And the fact that we’re a month away, it’s pretty incredible. Ross (Bjork) mentioned the fact that here at Ohio State, they want to put on these incredible events. It has been amazing to work with the staff here from Ohio State. We do these a lot and we do these in these iconic stadiums. This is first class all the way and it’s made our job so much easier.”

Steve Mayer, NHL — NHL President of Events & Content Steve Mayer believes this will be one of the greatest outdoor games the NHL has ever done.(Photo: Mark Scheig/The Hockey Writers)

Recall that certain challenges were previously reported such as plumbing and the Stadium not being fully winterized. But given the timing of the game, everyone has had plenty of time to plan and to address any concerns. There is a level of excitement that the NHL has for this game given what has all gone into it.

“But we do think we have an amazing plan,” Mayer said. “We do think this is going to be one of, if not the greatest outdoor games that we’ve ever done.”

Game Will Celebrate Columbus Traditions

While certain details will be released in the coming days and weeks, Mayer said that they want to honor the traditions of Columbus, Ohio State and the Blue Jackets. One of the things fans will be able to look forward to is the player arrivals.

Both the Blue Jackets and Red Wings will have their own unique arrivals. Here’s Mayer on that and more when it comes to celebrating the traditions of Columbus.

“We’ve got a lot that we’re planning. This is not just a one day activity. It’s an event and our team is here to put on a fanfare which will be outside of the venue. There is an event that goes on that’s associated with the football team that goes on at Saint John Arena. Before the game work, we’re here. We’re gonna replicate that in many ways. We’re calling it the NHL Stadium Series Pep Rally and it will feature a concert from OAR. It’ll be before the game. And not only will it feature the concert, it will feature the Ohio State Athletic Band and an appearance from the Columbus Blue Jackets.”

“The Blue Jackets will stop in St. John Arena and then make their way from St. John Arena to the stadium. The arrival of teams have become really special. Each team is given the creative opportunity to do something very unique and different. And we’re sure, even though we don’t know, we’re sure that the Columbus Blue Jackets will come up with an amazing idea. That’s a very popular fan event. The Detroit Red Wings will also do a unique arrival as well.”

“Once they’re inside the stadium and some of the field design you’re gonna see, we’re gonna release within the next week or so what the field is gonna look like. It’s very unique. It’s very Ohio State and Columbus Blue Jackets. You’ll get it second you see it. Then as we go through the game, we like to be very interactive in our games. Of course, from the first, second, and third period there’s a hockey game. But everything else is unique. It’s festive. We’ve got a concert with Twenty One Pilots. They’ll be during the first intermission and it is a full blown concert. Putting that one together is probably the biggest of any show that we’ve ever done related to any of our outdoor games.”

Steve Mayer speaks to the media about the upcoming Stadium Series game. He says details around the Cannon will be released next week. Hint: It’ll be really fun what they’re going to do. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/6fc2OckHl9

— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) February 5, 2025

“A puck drop which will be ceremoniously and by the way, some things we’re not gonna reveal. Some things are gonna be a surprise, and other things are very traditional if you look at any of our outdoor games. And we also are gonna be very traditional when it comes to Ohio State football. We obviously watched the teams run. It was awesome. We’ve spent a lot of time coming to games learning what the traditions are. Block O will be part of our environment. The Ohio State Athletic Band will be part of this environment and other Ohio State football traditions. We will celebrate the championship teams not only the football team but the cheer and dance team will be a part of what we’re going to do inside the stadium. And there’ll be a moment where we celebrate last year’s championship in women’s hockey. So there’s just so much to talk about.”

Tickets Still Remain

Mayer admitted that tickets still remain available for the Stadium Series game. To him and the NHL, that’s not a surprise. Fans want to see what is unveiled leading up to the event. They also want to see how other factors work such as the weather and also what other plans fans might have.

This led to Mayer admitting that due to certain factors, there is not expected to be 100,000 fans at the game. Even still, it is expected to be one of the most attended outdoor games ever.

“Ticket sales are going well. I’m not gonna sit here, and this is very typical of any of the outdoor games we’ve ever done. Now we still have tickets remaining. But for us as I said, we were finding more and more that there is a level of fan base that waits to look at what’s the weather gonna look like. What am I doing on March 1? We are exactly where we want to be. We know this building is gonna be filled the day of the game. So that’s where we are. And the other thing to recognize and we should point this out, because of the configuration that is hockey, not football, we end up taking some seats out of the mix. We build stages in very unique places. You’ve got your hockey rink. The Twenty One Pilot stage is ginormous and so that’s a factor. And we change television positions. We could never televise a hockey game with the football television positions. We have to build new positions and that actually takes out host of seats as well.

The expected crowd for this game should be around 80,000 when it’s said and done.

The Weather

Anyone that knows Ohio knows that the temperature on March 1 can range anywhere from 20 to 80. The NHL has seen a lot in 42 previous outdoor games.

The one thing the league says they are is prepared. They have had to overcome delays in the past. But no matter what weather comes to Columbus, they are confident they’ll be able to overcome it.

“We’ve seen. We had it all. Now if it’s extreme, we certainly communicate well in advance and let our fans first know if there’s any delays or anything as such. But, we have seen it all. We had a mini hurricane a day before a game in Annapolis. We had 70 degrees in Los Angeles. We had close to 70 degrees or even more than 70 degrees in Colorado. We’ve had snow. We’ve had rain. We’ve seen it all. Knock on wood, we’ve played 43 games. We’ve had a couple of delays but that’s it. We’ll monitor the weather. I’m sure the weekend, ten days before every single one of you is going to be monitoring the weather with us and we’ll give you constant updates as to where we stand. Typically, this is a market and a city that we don’t worry about. My team who’s in the back is probably so upset that I just said that because we’ve monitored the weather and we do so many studies before we ever decide we’re going to do a game in a particular market. This is pretty good as far as weather goes in terms of building ice and playing a game.”

NHL Always Looking to Constantly Improve

The one thing the NHL strives for is making sure every Stadium Series game is a unique experience one from another. It’s no different this time.

We asked Mayer where they’ve seen the biggest improvement in their preparation for games from their first iteration until now. For him, it’s his team’s ability to think outside the box for each individual game.

“I think you learn from experience,” Mayer said. “I think we’ve tried a lot. I think we have the the greatest events team in all of sports and I really mean that. I’m not just sitting here saying that. They constantly are challenged to think out of the box to never make the last one look like the next one or the next one to look like Game 26. We constantly are trying to think of how is this unique and different. Obviously, there’s a rink that’s in the middle of a football field that doesn’t change. But what surrounds it always changes. And then everything around it, how we activate ideas and events and how we bring traditions into the mix, that always changes. It’s actually a great challenge and it’s something that we love doing. It’s part of when we tell our team we’re going to Ohio State, it’s like wow. You can see the light bulbs going off and and all of a sudden they’re just thinking of, alright, what are we going to do? And they’re each individual area, they got to do something a bit different. It is as simple as the way the bus comes in. It’s going to come in a different way. So it’s a challenge and everybody has a unique position, a unique job to do, and we love doing it. We really think that each of these games takes on a life of their own. We’re not afraid to do things that some work, some don’t. But that’s what we do love about this one.”