Columbus Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets are an American professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio, that competes in the National Hockey League (NHL). They are members of the league's Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference.
Replacing the Columbus Chill of the ECHL, the Blue Jackets were founded as an expansion team in 2000. The team qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 2009.
The Blue Jackets' name and logos were inspired by Ohio's Civil War history. The Blue Jackets play their home games at Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus, which opened in 2000. They are affiliated with the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL and the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL.
Franchise history
1997–2000: Building a new franchise
Prior to the establishment of the Blue Jackets, the last NHL team in the state of Ohio was the Cleveland Barons, who played from 1976–78. In Columbus, the Blue Jackets replaced the Columbus Chill of the ECHL, who played in the city from 1991–99. The Chill played at the Ohio Expo Center Coliseum where they had an 83-game sellout streak, which was a minor league hockey record at the time. In November 1996, five investors formed a partnership called Columbus Hockey Limited, who then submitted an application and a $100,000 fee to the NHL office. The voters of Columbus were considering a referendum to build a publicly financed arena, a major step toward approval of their NHL bid. When League Commissioner Gary Bettman visited Columbus to meet with the community's leaders about the franchise proposal, there was concern that the voters might not pass the needed referendum. The civic leaders told Bettman that they would not be willing to foot the bill for the team if the referendum failed. However, just after the meeting adjourned, John H. McConnell (one of those who entered the bid) privately guaranteed Bettman that an arena would be built, referendum or not.