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Jackets Will Hit The Road Next Preseason

Reports from both the Dispatch and 97.1’s Lori Schmidt have confirmed the Blue Jackets will be spending some time outside of the usual NHL markets during the 2012-2013 preseason.

One matchup will see the Jackets facing the Washington Capitals in Baltimore as part of the next Baltimore Hockey Classic on September 26th, though hopefully they’ll have better ice on the second go round.

The other matchup is about as high profile a preseason game as you can ask for – the Jackets will face off against the Maple Leafs in Stirling-Rawdon, ON as part of this fall’s Kraft Hockeyville game. Not only will the game be a major event North of the border (including a featured telecast on Hockey Night in Canada that is likely to be picked up by NHL network in the US), but it is likely to be a relatively late pre-season game, giving fans a good look at both rosters.

Interestingly, Lori also found a series of tweets from reporter Michael Porter of the Indianapolis Star that the Jackets were also approached about possibly holding an exhibition game in Indy, but the organizers balked at the team’s request for a $300,000 appearance fee.

That number seems high at first glance (and Mr. Porter decides to take a few pot shots at the cost of hosting “the worst team in the NHL”), but consider that for the team, that $300k is probably almost entirely going to the cost of travel and insurance. I’m sure part of it is also giving up the revenues that would have been earned from a home game, but I wouldn’t be shocked at all to learn that much, if not all, was overhead…