For the first time in eight years, the Red Wings will be headed back outdoors.
The Wings are scheduled to play the Blue Jackets at iconic Ohio Stadium in Columbus in a Stadium Series game on March 1, 2025, per multiple reports.
It will mark the first outdoor game ever for the Blue Jackets, and the first for the Red Wings since they played the Maple Leafs in the Centennial Classic before 40,148 fans at BMO Field in Toronto on New Year's Day 2017.
A much bigger crowd will be on hand at The Horseshoe. In fact, the Red Wings and Blue Jackets could break the record for largest-ever crowd at a hockey game that was set at Michigan Stadium when 105,491 fans watched the Wings host the Leafs in the 2014 Winter Classic. The largest crowd in Ohio Stadium history is 110,045, which was set at the Michigan-Ohio State football game in 2016.
March weather looms as a potential threat to the ice conditions for next year's game, but Ohio State was opposed to hosting a Winter Classic on Jan. 1 in the event that it detracts attention from its football team, which could be playing in a College Football Playoff bowl game on that date.
It will be the fifth official outdoor game for the Red Wings, who also played the Blackhawks at Wrigley Field in the 2009 Winter Classic and the Avalanche at Coors Field in the 2016 Stadium Series, in addition to the games against Toronto. They are 2-0-2 in said games, with both losses coming via shootout to the Leafs.