Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 03/07/2026 01:32:00

It stands on the grounds of the old Ohio State Penitentiary - the arena floor sits over the prison's former parking lot, and an insurance company's naming money is the reason Columbus has an NHL team at all. Nationwide Arena, at 200 West Nationwide Boulevard, opened on 9 September 2000 with back-to-back sold-out Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concerts. The financing made league history: after voters rejected public funding, Nationwide Insurance privately financed the 175-million-dollar building - a commitment that secured the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets, who played their first game against Chicago on 7 October 2000 and have called the arena home ever since. The building set standards: the attached OhioHealth Ice Haus was the NHL's first integrated practice facility, the 684,000-square-foot arena seats 18,500 for hockey, 19,500 for basketball and up to 20,000 for concerts, and two decades on it remains one of the league's best-preserved venues. The district was the real project: Nationwide Realty built bars, restaurants, offices and housing around the arena simultaneously, creating the Arena District template that sports executives from across the country came to study - downtown Columbus's revival traces directly to it. The event resume runs deep: the 2007 NHL Draft, the 2015 NHL All-Star Game, NCAA tournament basketball and hockey, UFC cards, the Arnold Classic's headline events and the touring A-list from the Rolling Stones onward - ownership passing to the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority in 2012 with the Blue Jackets committed through 2039. Practical notes: the Arena District's garages wrap the building and COTA buses run the High Street spine two blocks east; the upper-bowl corners hold hockey value, concert flooring converts fast enough for back-to-back bookings, and the district's bars make the pre-game hour the easiest in the NHL's lower-key markets.