Let me just state that I hate writing this blog! I consider myself a hockey writer not a business writer but with the developments from the last couple of days, I must do it.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have gone to Franklin County and asked for a "Sin Tax" be added to allow the county to purchase Nationwide Arena. It would allow the Franklin County commissioners to hike taxes by 28 cents on a 12-pack of barley pop (beer), 6.4 cents on a bottle on Mad Dog and other fine wine, 60 cents on a fifth of the hard stuff and 4.5 cents per pack of smokes.

The reason behind this is that the Blue Jackets have lost $80 million in the last 7 years as reported in The Dispatch. I was actually shocked by that number! Shocked it wasn't higher! I knew that the Nationwide Arena situation was a disaster just when I found out at the beginning of this season that the club wasn't getting any parking revenue from the arena parking lot. I don't know what the parking lot holds but even if it is around 1000 spots and at $15 per hockey game, that would be $615,000 just for home hockey games. That wouldn't take in to account concerts and other events that take place at the arena. Also, due to the location of the arena, the parking lot is full everyday from people working downtown. To be conservative, the Blue Jackets lose at least $1 million a year just from 1000 parking spots!

What I didn't know was the situation with the luxury boxes. According to The Dispatch, 15 of the private luxury suites were sold in advance to help fund construction and now the club gets no revenue from those suites. That would be "STTTTRRRRIIIKKKKE 2!" It's not a big secret that gate receipts are the life blood of every NHL club and the luxury suites are critical for the success of any professional sports organization. The Blue Jackets went into this thing with their legs cut off before they ever hit the ice.

Also, due to Nationwide Realty Investors building the building, no naming rights fees are collected for calling it Nationwide Arena. What would that be around $2 million a year for that! "STTTRRRRIIIIIKKKKKKKE 3!" Obviously, I am doing a lot of guess-tamating but just on these 3 points, the Blue Jackets must be losing at least $5-$6 million a year.

Is that a problem, absolutely! Ramming a "Sin Tax" down Franklin County residents throats after they voted down any tax to build this arena is a bad step. "Sin Tax" is always the easy political answer and probably is the best route but the way that both the Blue Jackets and the County are trying to put this in is the "stench" of the situation.

Blue Jackets Mike Priest was quoted in The Dispatch in saying why the tax was voted down in 1997, "Back then, you were asking people to make an investment on something you couldn't touch and feel," Priest said. "But now you can see what this means to the public."

If you mean what you say, then why don't you put this tax option on the ballot? If the public knows what it means, they will vote for it but if you ram it down there throats then they usually will spit it back up and right in your face.

To give you an idea of how grave the situation is, Brian Ellis, president of Nationwide Realty Investors stated in The Dispatch that the Blue Jackets rent payments for the last season have been deferred. Meaning that the CBJ lost $10 million this year without paying any rent!

Ellis also stated in the Dispatch "Without a broader solution, I don't think anything we can do would be sufficient to fix the problem," Ellis said. "There's no way that just an adjustment to the lease, as it's currently configured, would be sufficient to maintain the long-term viability of the Blue Jackets."

Does anyone doubt that the Blue Jackets won't be the next target by Jim Basillie if this tax doesn't go through? The Blackberry gazillionaire is hell bent to own a NHL team and move them to Hamilton. He tried in Nashville and now he is trying through the bankruptcy courts to grab the Phoenix Coyotes. If he fails there, Basillie will look for the next wounded animal in the league and Columbus may be his next stop.

With all this being said and as I weigh the options, I would support the "Sin Tax" but with it going to ballot and not rammed down the throats of county residents. This is just another gaff by the Blue Jackets organization and not weighing the public perception. With the right marketing and spin, this tax would have passed easily but now the public is going to bristle against any tax as the CBJ and County tried to score an empty net tax goal.

Fire The Cannon!

Eric Smith
Eric.Smith@HockeyBuzz.com

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