Nationwide Arena
Nationwide Arena is a sports and entertainment arena in Columbus, Ohio. It opened in 2000 and is the home of the Columbus Blue Jackets, a franchise in the National Hockey League, who were joined for the 2004 season by the Columbus Destroyers of the Arena Football League. It was also home to the Columbus Landsharks of the National Lacrosse League from 2001-2003. And, in 2006 it began hosting the Ohio Junior Blue Jackets, a Tier 1 junior ice hockey team that is a part of the United States Hockey League (USHL).
The venue is named for the the arena's owner, Nationwide Financial Services, whose home office is located nearby. Nationwide's real estate development affiliate, Nationwide Realty Investors, financed and developed the project—making it one of very few privately financed arenas in the nation.
The arena is of an attractive brick design and serves as the center of an entertainment district located about one half mile north of the Ohio State Capitol. Seating capacity is approximately 18,136 for Ice hockey, 17,171 for Arena football, 19,350 for basketball, and up to 20,000 for concerts. The death of 13 year-old Brittanie Cecil from injuries sustained from a hockey puck flying into the stands at a Blue Jackets game in 2002 led to the installation of nylon netting to catch pucks that fly over the acrylic glass at all professional ice hockey arenas in the NHL, AHL, and ECHL.
The area surrounding Nationwide Arena, appropriately called the Arena District, houses a variety of bars, clubs and a movie theater. Constructed as a seamless entity, Columbus uses the arena as a drawing point for the city with the various other establishments feeding off of the foot traffic. The Lifestyle Communities Pavilion concert venue, and Arena Grand Theatre adjacent to the Nationwide Arena property, completes the entertainment complex. The Columbus Clippers the AAA affiliate of the Washington Nationals will move into a new stadium adjacent to Nationwide Arena in 2009.
Nationwide Arena also houses a smaller ice rink called the Dispatch IceHaus (formerly named the CoreComm IceHaus). This facility serves as the practice rink for the Blue Jackets and is also used for youth hockey games and open skating times for the public. This facility makes Nationwide Arena the only NHL arena with an on-site practice facility.
It hosted the final World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) King of the Ring tournament in 2002 and the last WWE Bad Blood in 2004.
The arena will host the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. Also, first and second round games of the 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament will be played there.
