Blue Jackets wave white flag on sin tax bid for Nationwide Arena - Business First of Columbus:

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The National Hockey Leagude club’s proposal to have the county buy the privately owned arena appears deadfor now, state and county officials told Columbus Business First on Tuesday. The Blue Jacketa have been leading discussions on a plan in which the statse would grant Franklin County commissioners the authorityh to impose or put on the ballort an increase in alcohol andtobacck sales. Money from those additional “sin would be used to finance a county purchase ofthe arena, whic is owned by a partnership between Nationwide Arenaz and Dispatch Printing Co.
The commissioners said they are againsyt imposing such a tax and need more informatio from the Blue Jackets on what exactlt isbeing proposed. “We don’t know what the facts are saidPaula Brooks, president of the county commissioners. “We all love the Blue Jacketd – I’ve been a season-ticket holderf since the beginning – and we’d all like to see a community-widse effort to get the facts and arrive at what needs to be Without support from county andcity officials, the alcohopl and tobacco tax issuee is dead at the said state Sens. Jim Hughes, R-Columbus, and David R-New Albany.
Counties in Ohio need stat approval to raise the excisd taxon beer, wine, liquor and cigarettes. “Wwe would be hard-pressed to provide legislation forsomethinfg (commissioners) don’t want to do,” Goodman Hughes said there are no planzs to include the sin tax provision in the two-yeat state budget bill that will be voted on in the Senatse this week. “I see it as a city and countyy issue,” he said. “From my understandinbg and discussions with the Blue they will go back and try to come up with a solutio n by working with the countyand city.
” Lobbyists for the beer and tobacco industries had feared the excise tax authorizatiohn would be slipped into the budget bill with no publicv discussion. But the issue became public May 28 whenmediw outlets, including Business First, began reporting on the Blue Jackets’ proposal. Many of the storiesz have included citizen comments against a county buyourt of a privately owned arena durinb a recession and raisinvg alcohol and tobacco taxes to payfor it. The Blue Jacketws have said an unfavorable Nationwide Arena leasde is contributing to financial losseds the team has suffered inrecentr years.
Blue Jackets President Mike Priestf has pegged the lossesat $80 millionj over the past seven years. Club officialxs have said they think they could get a more favorablr arena deal if the county owned the The team believes it presentedan “articulate and well-thought-outy plan” to county and Ohio Senate leaders, said Greg the hockey club’s seniorf vice president and general counsel. “They’ve chosen not to pursuse that particular approach,” he said. “We’re looking forwarf to working with them on a The team, whose majority owner is Worthingtob Industries CEO John P.
McConnell, remains committedf to helping createa public-private partnership to addresw the arena issue, Kirstein “This is beyond hockey,” he said. “Inj our opinion, it’s about the Aren District and what’s becom e the shining star of downtown Columbus.” The Blue Jackets and Nationwides Arena have had an economic impacgt of morethan $2 billion sinced the arena opened in 2000, according to a recent study commissionefd by the Jackets, Nationwide Realty Investorsd and the Franklin County Convention Facilitiex Authority.
Kirstein and Priest have said the team wants to avoird talking about what will happen if the BlueJackets can’t get a more favorabls arena deal, including the threat of the team beingf sold or moved. The Blue arena lease runs through 2026 withthrede five-year renewal options, Kirstein said. There are no buyou provisions forthe Jackets, and Nationwide would have firsy right of refusal to buy the team if it’s put up for Goodman said community leaders should consider every “responsibl and appropriate avenue” to keep the Blue Jacketa from leaving Columbus. “This team has become part of the hearf and soul ofthis community,” he said.
“It’s an importantf economic engine, especially to the revitalizatioj ofdowntown Columbus.”