By JoANNE VIVIANO
Associated Press Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio(AP) -- Columbus may have trouble holding on to the
NHL's Blue Jackets because the club has been losing $12 million
a year in central Ohio, according to a report released Thursday
by a business group.

The report commissioned by the Columbus Chamber offers a variety
of options for strengthening the hockey team's financial
position, such as new taxes or fees or selling shares to other
investors or the general public.

Other suggestions include allowing the team to renegotiate its
lease for Nationwide Arena or trying to attract a second major
tenant, such as a basketball team.

"It is important that our community retain this team," said Dave
Blom, chairman of the Columbus Chamber board. "The Columbus Blue
Jackets impact our regional economy, support thousands of jobs
and bring millions of dollars in tax revenue that contribute to
our quality of life."

In the decade following 1998, the year after investors began the
move to bring the team to Columbus, the city's downtown Arena
District has attracted various retail, restaurants and other
businesses, increasing property values by 267 percent and
employing thousands, the report says.

Columbus Blue Jackets President Mike Priest said that the team's
current economic model has "significant disadvantages" and that
it plans to work with public and private groups to find a
solution.

Priest said the Blue Jackets, now in their ninth season, have
built and maintained fan and corporate participation that has
supported the team.

"Public partnership in arenas and stadiums has been a critical
element to ensuring healthy, competitive sports franchises in
markets across the country, including Cleveland and Cincinnati
in Ohio, and our priority continues to be to secure long-term
financial viability in this great city," he said.

Options in the report, produced by Stephen Buser, a finance
professor from the business college at Ohio State University,
include plans to continue the current private ownership, opt for
alternate private ownership or public-private partnerships.

He says in the report the Blue Jackets are at a disadvantage to
other NHL teams for reasons including that the team must pay $5
million a year to use the arena, incur costs of managing the
arena year round and have no access to parking revenue or
payments for arena naming rights.

The $150 million arena was financed by Nationwide Mutual
Insurance Co. It is one of the few NHL facilities in the country
that is privately owned - largely because county voters wanted
it that way. They have rejected arena tax issues three times
between 1986 and 1997.

The team's owners unsuccessfully asked that the current state
budget include a tax increase on beer, wine, liquor and
cigarettes in Franklin County to raise $65 million to underwrite
a county takeover of the arena.

The state Department of Development has been involved in
discussions with Nationwide, the Blue Jackets, and city and
county officials, department spokesman Bob Grevey said Thursday.
While nothing specific is on the table, the state recognizes the
importance of keeping the team in Columbus, he said.

Local voters have repeatedly rejected public financing of the
center, and the tax increase was opposed by members of the beer
and wine industry, including brewing giant Anheuser-Busch, which
operates one of its 12 U.S. breweries in the city.

The Blue Jackets qualified for the first time last year for the
NHL Western Conference playoffs, losing in the first round to
the Detroit Red Wings.

The team came to town nine years ago through significant private
funding - much of it from the late John H. McConnell of steel
finishing company Worthington Industries. McConnell died last
year, leaving his son John P. McConnell at the helm of the
business.