![]() ![]() It is a complex affair with interlocking lease, purchase, loan and investment agreements between the city, Franklin County, the facilities authority, the Blue Jackets, Nationwide and the state of Ohio. At the time, Blue Jackets creditors were seeking assurances that the team was doing something to get its financial house in order.įranklin County commissioners approved the purchase in December after the agreement was drafted. ![]() The Columbus City Council approved the deal in early October, even before the final agreement had been drafted. "This is good news," said Dan Williamson, spokesman for Mayor Michael B. "If this wasn't about the arena and the Arena District and the businesses around there, we wouldn't have done the deal," Franklin County Commissioner John O'Grady said yesterday. What was an empty landscape dominated by a closed, decaying prison is now home to apartments, condominiums, restaurants and offices. The Blue Jackets are finishing this season at the bottom of the league.Ĭity and county officials have said their decision to buy the arena wasn't about hockey it was about protecting the Arena District that sprang up around Nationwide Arena after it opened in 2000. He said that the overall details of the agreement are the same as when it was announced in September. In recent weeks, the parties were waiting on the NHL to approve ownership changes in the deal, said Bill Jennision, the executive director of the facilities authority. It took nearly three months for lawyers to draft the final agreement. That new deal was announced in September. Team officials had discussed moving the team if a better deal couldn't be struck. The Blue Jackets have said since 2009 that they are losing money, in part because of an unfavorable lease deal with the arena's former owners. ![]() It also will pay the team $28.5 million over 10 years for naming rights to the arena. Nationwide, the former majority owner of the arena, agreed to invest $52 million in the Blue Jackets to take a 30 percent ownership interest in the team. The deal is expected to save the struggling Blue Jackets $9.5 million per year through a rent-free lease with the authority. With maintenance, operating and debt-service costs, arena ownership is expected to cost the city and county about $250 million through 2039. The Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority closed on Nationwide Arena on Wednesday afternoon in a $42.5 million deal that will be financed with up to a third of the casino tax revenue due Columbus and Franklin County. The Columbus Blue Jackets will complete the home half of their hockey season in a publicly owned arena. ![]()
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