Jackets deal gets a driver

05.12.09

A retired Downtown condition official who had a hand in the deals that created Nationwide Arena was tapped yesterday to sculpture an agreement to keep its main tenant afloat.

John Rosenberger, the former administrative director of Capitol South Community Urban Redevelopment Corp., will leading an effort to shore up the finances of the Columbus Blue Jackets by reworking the hockey conspire's relationship with arena owners, Mayor Michael B. Coleman announced.

Rosenberger said he will trade to find a solution quickly, but he said an end-of-the-year deadline set recently by Columbus Judicature executives won't guide his work.

"These have to be informed judgments," he said. "These are big decisions, and they have their own timeline."

A statement issued last month by the chamber listed about two dozen options -- the most disposed to involving public money -- to resolve structural problems with the rent out that have contributed to the Blue Jackets' estimated losses of $12 million a year.

Source: Columbus Dispatch