Value City Arena
The Value City Arena at The Jerome Schottenstein Center is a multi-purpose arena, located on the campus of Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It was the main sports, music, and entertainment arena in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area until Nationwide Arena opened in 2000. The arena opened in 1998 and is currently the largest by seating capacity in the Big Ten Conference, with 19,049 seats, which is reduced to 18,809 for Ohio State men's basketball games.
It is home to Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball, women's basketball and men's ice hockey teams. Previously, the basketball teams played at St. John Arena, while the ice hockey team played at the OSU Ice Arena. The facility is named for Jerome Schottenstein, of Columbus, late founder of Schottenstein Stores Corp. and lead benefactor of the project, while the seating bowl is named for Schottenstein's store Value City Furniture.
Relationship to Nationwide Arena
Prior to July 1, 2010, one of Value City Arena's major event competitors was the downtown Nationwide Arena, which opened in 2000 and is home to the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets. In May 2010, the Blue Jackets and OSU signed a one-year, annually renewable, agreement to turn over day-to-day operations and non-athletic event booking of Nationwide Arena to OSU, effective July 1, 2010. This agreement puts both arenas under the same management and makes the facilities sister venues. As part of the March 2012 sale of Nationwide Arena to the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority (FCCFA), the non-profit company Columbus Arena Management was created. The company, created by OSU, the Blue Jackets, the FCCFA and Columbus-based Nationwide Insurance, currently manages the day-to-day operations as well as all event bookings in both arenas.