While Saturday’s Stadium Series game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings celebrated the NHL, it was hard to miss how much of the evening was about the Ohio State Buckeyes.
94,751 people packed into Ohio Stadium, making this the second-largest crowd in NHL history. The hometown fans were treated to all their favorite OSU things, including seeing Buckeye logos all over the place, watching the marching band form ‘Script Ohio,’ singing “Hang On, Sloopy,” honoring the national champion Buckeyes football squad, and singing “We Don’t Give A Damn for the Whole State of Michigan” and “Carmen Ohio” following the Blue Jackets’ victory.
This kind of synergy between Ohio State and the Blue Jackets was a great experience for the Columbus faithful, but it apparently took a lot of work to get the university to play so nicely.
The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline wrote Sunday about what it took to make the NHL’s 43rd outdoor game happen, noting that there were some immediate issues when it was first considered. The most comical concern is also the most Ohio State concern possible.
“An NHL executive told The Athletic that Ohio State at first resisted allowing the league to refer to the game as “the” Stadium Series because OSU has trademarked “THE” on clothing and other branded products,” wrote Portzline.
Ohio State University won the right to officially register a trademark for the word “THE” for branded products associated with the school in 2022. They’ve been very active in defending that and other trademarks since.
Portzline also wrote that OSU balked at Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins putting buckeye leaves on his helmet and at the NHL using their “Skull Session” term for pre-game football pep rallies for their own Stadium Series pep rally.
Brutus crashes the set 😆
📺 Stadium Series | 6 PM ET on ESPN, ESPN+, Disney+ pic.twitter.com/SQmCS7Z3db
— ESPN (@espn) March 1, 2025
Cooler heads prevailed, perhaps when the school realized just how much it would be able to stamp itself on this NHL game. But it still sounds very silly to consider that the league almost had to refer to this as “an” Stadium Series game or “that” Stadium Series game just to make it happen.
