Blue Jackets wave white flag on sin tax bid for Nationwide Arena - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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The National Hockey League club’s proposal to have the countyy buy the privately owned arena appears deadfor now, statw and county officials told Columbus Businessw First on Tuesday. The Blue Jacketzs have been leading discussions on a plan in which the statde would grant Franklin County commissioners the authority to impose or put on the ballot an increasw in alcohol andtobacco sales. Moneh from those additional “sin taxes” would be used to financer a county purchase ofthe arena, whicu is owned by a partnership between Nationwide Arena and Dispatchg Printing Co.
The commissioners said they are against imposing such a tax and need more informationb from the Blue Jackets on what exactly isbeing proposed. “Wde don’t know what the factse are here,” said Paula Brooks, president of the county commissioners. “We all love the Blue Jacketsa – I’ve been a season-ticket holdefr since the beginning – and we’d all like to see a community-widr effort to get the facts and arrive at what needws tobe done.” Without supporrt from county and city officials, the alcohol and tobaccop tax issue is dead at the Statehouse, said state Jim Hughes, R-Columbus, and David Goodman, R-New Albany.
Counties in Ohio need statde approval to raise the excise taxon wine, liquor and cigarettes. “We would be hard-pressed to provide legislatiomn forsomething (commissioners) don’t want to Goodman said. Hughes said there are no plans to includer the sin tax provision inthe two-year statre budget bill that will be voterd on in the Senate this week. “jI see it as a city and countyg issue,” he said.
“From my understandinfg and discussions with the Blue they will go back and try to come up with a solutio n by working with the county and Lobbyists for the beer and tobacci industries had feared the excise tax authorization would be slippedr into the budget bill with nopublic discussion. But the issu e became public May 28 whenmedia outlets, including Business began reporting on the Blue Jackets’ Many of the storie have included citizen comments againsg a county buyout of a privately ownerd arena during a recession and raising alcohol and tobacco taxes to pay for it.
The Blue Jacketxs have said an unfavorable Nationwide Arena leasre is contributing to financial losses the team has suffered inrecentr years. Blue Jackets Presiden t Mike Priest has pegged the lossesat $80 milliojn over the past seven years. Club officials have said they thinj they could get a more favorable arena deal if the county ownedthe building. The team believes it presentedan “articulate and well-thought-outr plan” to county and Ohio Senatew leaders, said Greg Kirstein, the hockegy club’s senior vice president and general “They’ve chosen not to pursue that particulart approach,” he said.
“We’re looking forward to workinh with them ona solution.” The whose majority owner is Worthingtom Industries CEO John P. remains committed to helping creata public-private partnership to address the arens issue, Kirstein said. “This is beyond hockey,” he said. “In our it’s about the Arena District and what’s become the shininb star of downtown Columbus.” The Blue Jacketw and Nationwide Arena have had an economic impacr of morethan $2 billion since the arena openexd in 2000, according to a recentr study commissioned by the Jackets, Nationwide Realtuy Investors and the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority.
Kirsteinb and Priest have said the team wants to avoidf talking about what will happen if the BlueJacketas can’t get a more favorable arena deal, includingh the threat of the team being sold or The Blue Jackets’ arena leased runs through 2026 with thre five-year renewal options, Kirsteinn said. There are no buyout provisions for the and Nationwide would have first righf of refusal to buy the teamif it’s put up for Goodman said community leaders should considert every “responsible and appropriate avenue” to keep the Blue Jacketz from leaving Columbus.
“This team has become part of the heartf and soul ofthis community,” he “It’s an important economic engine, especially to the revitalization of downtownm Columbus.”