Blue Jackets Still Spending On Players Despite Arena Woes

Blue Jackets Say Arena Situation Will Not Impact Contract Talks With LW Rick Nash

NOT ON YOUR SIDE: BUSINESS FIRST OF COLUMBUS' Jeff Bell reports a plan to sell Nationwide Arena using higher taxes on alcohol and cigarettes to help fund the deal "appears dead for now," as Franklin County (OH) commissioners and state legislators claim that they "lack enough facts to get behind the plan." A coalition of "trade groups and companies with stakes in alcohol and tobacco sales" expressed opposition to the plan, fearing that a provision allowing the county to "impose an excise tax would be slipped into" next year's state budget. The lobbyists "drove the proposal into the public spotlight, where it drew fire from residents opposed to a government buyout of a privately owned arena during a recession and raising beer and tobacco taxes to pay for it." Blue Jackets Senior VP & General Counsel Greg Kirstein said that the "outcome was surprising" to the team. Kirstein: "We thought the plan was articulated well. We had some support in the state Senate and with the county commissioners until the beer lobby became aggressive" (BUSINESS FIRST OF COLUMBUS, 6/5 issue).

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