Table of Contents
Nationwide Arena
Columbus Blue Jackets
About Stadium
A sports and entertainment facility located in downtown COlumbus, Ohio, the Nationwide Arena serves primarily as the home-ice for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League.
Along with the Greater COlumbus Convention Center and Franklin County Veterans Memorial, the Nationwide Arena is apart of the three facilities that hold the annual Arnold Classic every year, which is a fitness and sports event held by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In May 2012, the mayor of Columbus, Michael B. Coleman made a big push to attract an NBA club or an expansion NBA team to the town, and has been unsuccessful in doing so thus far.
The majority owner of the arena is Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, and their own international headquarters is located directly across the street from the venue.
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• 200 West Nationwide Boulevard
Columbus, Ohio 43215
• Capacity: 18,500
• Opened: September 9, 2000
History
• Nationwide Insurance and the Dispatch Publishing Group sold the stadium to the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority, also known as FCCFA, on March 30, 2012. As apart of the agreement, Nationwide would loan the FCCFA $43.3 million in order to finance the purchase of the arena.
• Spectator Management Group was the managing authority of the stadium until May 12, 2010 when the Blue Jackets franchise announced that they would not be retaining SMG as the managers of the venue, and instead would give the responsibilities to The Ohio State University, which is also located in Columbus.
• Construction of the arena took just over two years to complete with ground being broken on May 26, 1998 and the gran opening of the facility on September 9, 2000.
• A tragic day in the stadium’s history came on March 16, 2002 when 13 year old Brittanie Cecil, a young girl attending the game to watch the Blue Jackets was struck in the head by a deflected puck.
Past and Current Teams
Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) (2000–present)
Columbus Landsharks (NLL) (2001–2003)
Columbus Destroyers (AFL) (2004–2008)
Ohio Junior Blue Jackets (USHL) (2006–2008)