Columbus Blue Jackets’ first outdoor game draws second-highest NHL outdoor attendance

After a week of anticipating Ohio Stadium becoming the site of the second-largest crowd in NHL history, it’s now official.

According to the NHL, a crowd of 94,751 showed up Saturday night to watch the Blue Jackets play the Detroit Red Wings at Ohio State’s “Horseshoe” for the league’s 2025 Stadium Series matchup.

More: Columbus Blue Jackets have ‘dominated’ ticket sales for NHL outdoor game at Ohio Stadium

The only crowd larger to watch an NHL game was for the 2014 Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium, where an announced crowd of 105,491 showed up to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Red Wings in a shootout. Ohio Stadium’s listed capacity for Ohio State football games is 102,780, so Saturday’s game wasn’t going to set a record even at the iconic venue’s full capacity.

The NHL along with its broadcast partner ESPN also took out about 10,000 seats to place TV camera mounts plus a large stage on the South end of the field for Twenty One Pilots to perform during the first intermission.

Steve Mayer, the NHL’s president of content and events, said earlier in the week the league was expecting the game to reach the second-highest attendance mark. Most of the tickets were also purchased by people with Ohio zip codes.

“What we’re finding lately is exactly what happened here in Columbus, that fans take their time,” Mayer said. “There was a lot (happening) in this market a few months ago with one college football game after another college football game, and we recognized that. We knew that sales would pick up late and they (did). What a testament to the Columbus Blue Jackets that you can fill a stadium with 90,000 people. That’s just unbelievable.”

bhedger@dispatch.com

@BrianHedger.bsky.social

Get more on the Columbus Blue Jackets with our Cannon Fodder podcast

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets outdoor game draws second-highest NHL attendance