Nationwide Arena
Where Ohio's blue and red was born, and where every shift still echoes.
Nationwide Arena is the home ice of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the NHL expansion franchise that first laced up their skates in the 2000-01 season. Nestled in Columbus, Ohio's Short North district, the venue has served as the beating heart of Blue Jackets fandom for over two decades, hosting everything from opening-night pageants to playoff heartbreak and the occasional electric upset. The arena is also shared with the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer, making it one of the few North American venues where hockey and soccer fans take turns filling the same seats.
Originally christened CoreCivic Arena at its 2000 debut, the building was rebranded to Nationwide Arena in 2004 under a naming-rights agreement with Nationwide Insurance. Since then, the name has become synonymous with the Blue Jackets' identity — a place where the blue-and-red colors of Ohio are painted on the boards, where the crowd's roar echoes off the upper deck, and where the franchise's story is written one shift at a time.
- Home to
- Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) & Columbus Crew (MLS)
- Location
- Columbus, Ohio — Short North neighborhood
- Opened
- 2000, for the Blue Jackets' inaugural 2000-01 NHL season
- Original name
- CoreCivic Arena (2000–2004)
- Current name
- Nationwide Arena (2004–present)
- Shared tenant
- Columbus Crew (MLS)
Lore & Background
When the NHL granted Columbus an expansion franchise in 1997, the city needed a home worthy of the wait. The arena that rose in the Short North was designed to be more than a box of seats — it was meant to be a cathedral for a fanbase that had dreamed of professional hockey for years. The first puck dropped on that ice in October 2000, and the building has been a living, breathing extension of the Blue Jackets ever since. Early seasons saw a raw, electric energy: a crowd that had never before experienced an NHL game, learning the rhythms of a period, the silence before a power play, the collective gasp of a save.
As the franchise matured, the arena became a character in its own right. The upper-deck section that sways and chants, the tunnel where players step out to a wall of blue, the boards where the city's name is scrawled in marker by fans after a big win — these details turned a structure into a story. The shift from CoreCivic to Nationwide Arena in 2004 marked a period of stability and growth, and the name stuck, becoming shorthand for the team itself. Fans don't say 'we went to the game'; they say 'we went to Nationwide.'
The arena has also been a stage for moments that transcend a single game. Playoff series where the building shook, exhibition matches, community events, and the annual tradition of the city gathering to celebrate hockey in a way that feels almost sacred. It is, in the truest sense, the Blue Jackets' living room.
In Their Own Story
The lights dim to a low amber glow. Twenty thousand voices settle into a hush, then swell. A single note from the organ cuts through the cold air above the ice, and the Zamboni's fresh lines gleam like a frozen lake at dawn. In the tunnel, a rookie grips his stick so hard his knuckles whiten, listening to the roar build in waves. He steps through the glass door and the sound hits him like a wall of water — blue and red and gold, a sea of Ohio faces tilted upward, scarves waving, a child on her father's shoulders screaming a name she learned last week. The puck drops. The first stick-on-puck crack echoes off the rafters. And for one breathless, electric moment, the arena is not a building. It is a heartbeat.
Reader's Guide
The era: 2000 to the present — the founding and growth of a franchise in its home.
What defined it: Nationwide Arena did not merely host the Blue Jackets; it made them. Before 2000, Columbus was a city that wanted hockey. After the first season, it was a city that had hockey. The arena's early years were defined by the raw, unpolished energy of an expansion team finding its footing — a crowd that learned the game alongside the players, a building that felt too big one night and impossibly small the next.
Why it matters to the club's identity: Every Blue Jackets story is anchored to this ice. The first goal scored in Columbus, the first playoff series, the first time the crowd stood for an entire period — these memories are etched into the boards and the rafters. The arena is not a venue the team rents; it is the team's address, its identity, its promise to the city. When a fan says 'I've been going to Nationwide since day one,' they are not describing a ticket purchase. They are describing a life. The building is the constant in a franchise that has seen rosters turn over, coaches come and go, and fortunes rise and fall. The ice resets every night. The story does not.
Did You Know?
- The arena opened in 2000 specifically to serve as the Blue Jackets' home for their very first NHL season, meaning the building and the franchise essentially arrived at the same time.
- Nationwide Arena is a dual-sport venue shared with the Columbus Crew of MLS, so the same seats that have echoed with hockey chants also host soccer matches later in the season.
- The venue was originally named CoreCivic Arena before the naming-rights deal with Nationwide Insurance took effect in 2004, making 'Nationwide Arena' a name the building has carried for well over two decades.
- The arena is located in Columbus's Short North district, a neighborhood that has grown into one of the city's most vibrant entertainment and dining areas, largely in part because of the arena's presence.