NHL Winter Classic: Will Columbus Blue Jackets Ever Play Host?

In 2008, the National Hockey League began one of it's most popular traditions to date with the Winter Classic.

The event, which falls around the first of January, takes hockey where it should be played: outside.

From Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium to Boston's Fenway Park, each game leaves fans anticipating what next year will bring.

This year's Winter Classic finds itself in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, not far from the Classic's last host, a night game in Pittsburgh.

The Philadelphia Flyers will take their heated rivalry with the New York Rangers out to the confines of Citizens Bank Park, home of Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies. 

The Flyers, like the Penguins, will be in the Classic for the second time in only five occurrences.

Since it's beginning, the Winter Classic has been held in the Eastern Conference four out of five times, with the only Western Conference Classic being between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks at Wrigley Field in 2009.

The Classic has stayed on the eastern part of the country because of the weather restrictions in the west.

An abundant amount of issues would occur if the NHL tried to play an outdoor game in Los Angeles or San Jose, where it was a cool 52 degrees Farenheit on New Years Day this past season.

Another issue the Western Conference faces is the fact that it has only two teams that could get the ratings that the league wants.

Part of the Original Six, Chicago and Detroit are clearly the country's most popular Western Conference teams.

One could make a case for the Canadian Western Conference teams being the most popular, but the NHL seems keen on keeping the Winter Classic in the States, since no Canadian team has participated to date.

Keeping the Classic in the States makes finding a host that has the right weather more difficult.

The only possible teams that have yet to host are Colorado, St. Louis, Nashville, Minnesota, and Columbus.

Any of these teams would kill to host the New Years festivities.

Minnesota has some of the best hockey fans around and would love to host a Winter Classic at the Twins' Target Field.

However, having any of these teams host would bring TV ratings much lower than past Winter Classics. The only way any of these teams would be able to host the Classic was if Detroit or Chicago was their opponent.

One could make a push for the Avalanche-Red Wings rivalry, but that has died off since the days of Forsberg, Roy, Yzerman and Shannahan.

So why not Columbus?

What is stopping the NHL from bringing their most recent tradition to the great state of Ohio?

One issue stopping the Winter Classic from calling Ohio home is the Blue Jackets' scarce popularity outside of Ohio.

Since becoming a franchise, the Blue Jackets have struggled, making the playoffs just once in their 10-year existence.

The Blue Jackets would have to become an annual playoff participant to reap the benefits of national-television exposure.

You would not need more than two hands to count how many times the Jackets have been on either Versus or NBC since coming into the league.

However, the Blue Jackets are looking to change that this offseason with their busiest and most aggressive to date.

The team has improved it's lineup with trades and free agency and have acquired two talented players in Jeff Carter and James Wisniewski.

If the team can turn around its misfortune, the Blue Jackets' making the playoffs would only strengthen their case for New Years' host.

One thing that the Blue Jackets do have in their favor for a Winter Classic is a venue.

When any sports-loving American thinks of the city of Columbus, there is only one answer: The Ohio State Buckeyes and their historic Ohio Stadium, better known as "The Horseshoe."

Home to Buckeyes football since 1922, "The Shoe" has been one of the most iconic stadiums in college football history and is filled with tradition.

"The Horseshoe" has been home to seven Heisman winners, 37 conference titles, and seven national titles. It would be a great place to watch a hockey game on New Years Day.

Just imagine the famous Ohio State Marching Band dotting the "i" before the Blue Jackets and their opponent take the ice.

In Yahoo Sports' Greg Wyshynski's ranking of the top future locations for the Winter Classic, Ohio Stadium was ranked #12 out of 30.

However, Wyshynski goes on to say that if the Red Wings aren't in attendance as the Jackets opponent, there is no chance for a Winter Classic in Ohio:

"You'd need the Red Wings in this game against the Columbus Blue Jackets to make it work, and attempting to stage a game in the 102,329-seat Horseshoe is daunting. But the weather should help and it's an iconic stadium for college football, which would be a nice respite from the NFL and MLB palaces."

The Jackets are the only Western-Conference, Red-Wings-rivalry team that has the weather but hasn't hosted a Winter Classic.

The Blue Jackets fan base see it as one of their best rivalries, but unfortunately, no one else seems to see it that way.

This is mostly because the Red Wings have dominated the Blue Jackets since coming into the league, which includes a four-game sweep in Columbus' only playoff appearance.

A rivalry isn't much of one if one team dominates the other.

If the Blue Jackets are able to earn a few more playoff invitations as well as anger the Red Wings a little more, there could be an intense Winter Classic in the making, hopefully sometime soon.