Nationwide Arena is a sports and entertainment arena located on 200 West Nationwide Blvd in Columbus, Ohio. The arena was opened in 2000 and is the home of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Also it was home of the Columbus Landsharks of the NLL from 2001 to 2003 and it began hosting the Ohio Junior Blue Jackets in 2006. It was owned by Nationwide Financial Services, operated by Columbus Blue Jackets, designed by 360 Architecture and NBBJ with construction cost of $175 million and capacity of 18,136 for ice hockey, 19,500 for basketball, 17,171 for arena football and 20,000 for concerts.

The name of the arena is after the owner, Nationwide, with world headquarters located across the street. In all professional ice hockey arenas was installed nylon netting to catch pucks that fly over the acrylic glass, after the death of 13 year-old Brittanie Cecil from injuries sustained from a hockey puck flying into the stands at a Blue Jackets game in 2002. The area surrounding Nationwide Arena has a variety of bars, clubs and a movie theater and it‘s called the Arena District.

The arena also has a smaller ice rink which is called the Dispatch IceHaus, and it serves as the practice rink for the Blue Jackets and for youth hockey games, and it makes the Nationwide Arena the first NHL arena with an on-site practice facility. Some people claim that Nationwide Arena is haunted, because it was built at the site of Ohio Penitentiary, but the arena is actually built over the prison's former parking lot. Also it is notable that the arena is one of only two current venues to have never hosted a Stanley Cup playoff game.