COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Not one word from Franklin County commissioners about the plight of the Columbus Blue Jackets during the weekly board meeting Tuesday morning.
The owners of the money losing Columbus Blue Jackets wanted a tax increase on beer, wine, liquor and cigarettes to underwrite a county takeover of the arena where they play, defying the will of local voters who repeatedly rejected public financing of the center.
The additional tax would have raised the county an estimated $65 million per year, which could have helped pay for a bond sale to purchase the arena.
NBC 4 sat down with board president Paula Brooks who said commissioners could not support a tax increase of any kind in this economy but were anxious to find a solution.
“They play a very valuable role, in my opinion, with our $7 billion tourism industry and that ripples out into other jobs in the arena district and throughout Franklin County,” Brooks said.
Fresh off the best season since the first puck dropped in 2000, Blue Jackets management claimed they lost $80 million over the past seven years -- $10 million this year.
What's next? Blue Jackets Senior Vice President and general counsel Greg Kirstein said it’s back to square one.
“We are working closely with Nationwide and government to come up with the next plan. The sin tax was presented as an option to county commissioners. They chose not to adopt it, and it’s our job to work in conjunction with them now to come up with something that is more viable,” he said.
As for a threat of the team leaving Columbus, Kirstein said they made no such threat, but the team must lock in the same public financial support that professional sports teams in other cities receive.
The prospect of significant tax hikes to benefit Nationwide Arena pitted financial backers of the Blue Jackets’ arena complex against members of the beer and wine industry, including brewing giant Anheuser-Busch, which operates one of its 12 U.S. breweries in the city.
Stewart Miller, general manager of Gordon Biersch, said it was a smart move by commissioners to oppose a plan to raise the sin tax.
The county’s purchase, according to CBJ President Mike Priest, would have given the organization the financial break it needs.
Miller said arena businesses depend on alcohol sales and any increase would hurt business.
Miller also found it interesting the Jackets are asking for a break after one winning season, its first since landing in the capital city eight years ago.
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