Representatives Ice Tax Proposal

10 TV: It appears that an excise tax on alcohol and cigarettes will not be an answer to the Blue Jackets' financial struggles. Representatives with the Blue Jackets' majority owner, Nationwide Insurance, met with state lawmakers Tuesday to discuss the team's money situation…

The Jackets are coming off their most successful season, but the team's winning ways did not help them climb out of financial difficulty. Team representatives said they have lost $80 million over the past seven seasons… The team was pushing a plan that would have state lawmakers pass legislation allowing counties to add an extra tax to alcohol and cigarettes. The "sin tax" would raise enough money to allow Franklin County to buy Nationwide Arena and renegotiate the team's 25-year lease. That plan does not seem likely.

"This is probably not the time to be talking about that," said Ohio State Rep. Dan Stewart, a Democrat. "I'm concerned about trying to get the city to open up their rec centers. I'm worried about folks out there just trying to make ends meet. It's not a time to be adding taxes to their problems."

While the sin tax appears dead, Nationwide Insurance is still willing to sell the arena to the county, or some local entity… Nationwide said it did not expect to proper from the deal, but wants to do whatever it can to help the Blue Jackets a viable entity in Columbus.

"We are here to make this as strong as a community as it can possibly be because we'll be able to hire great talent that will want to stay in Columbus," said Nationwide chief marketing officer Jim Lyski. "That will really just make this a perpetuating strong community."

Although no answer to the money problem was reached Tuesday, the Blue Jackets said it was too early to talk about the Jackets leaving Columbus, Hirsch… Nationwide Arena is owned by a partnership of Nationwide Insurance and The Dispatch Printing Co. The Dispatch Printing Co. also owns 10TV.