The Arena District and Nationwide Arena are without power Tuesday afternoon before the Blue Jackets face the Anaheim Ducks.
AEP Ohio estimates power will be restored by 6 p.m., 30 minutes before the puck is scheduled to drop at the arena.
The Jackets said the coolers under the ice are running on backup power, but the outage will impact remaining operations in the arena.
The National Hockey League has decided that every team in the 32-team league will play tonight, with start times on the West Coast staggered from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. It is marketed as Frozen Frenzy.
According to AEP, an underground cable supplying power to the arena district failed at 1:06 p.m., causing the outage.
To isolate the broken piece of underground cable, teams go into several underground vaults that house equipment that supplies power to the area. This is a necessary process to safely restore power. Estimated recovery time is 6:00 p.m. https://t.co/jagBcLuVaS
– AEP Ohio (@AEPOhio) October 24, 2023
To isolate the failed piece of underground power line, crews are going into several underground vaults that house equipment that supplies power to the area, the company said.
AEP said this work is necessary to safely restore power. Crews expect this step to take approximately two and a half hours.
Crews are on site and working to reroute customers to an alternative energy source while repairs are made, the company said.
According to AEP, the outage affects an area roughly bounded by Neil Avenue to the west, Vine Street to the north, Third Street to the east and Long Street to the south. Huntington Park and Lower.com Field are not affected by the outage.
The Dispatch has reached out to the league and club for further details.
Dispatch Sports reporter Brian Hedger contributed to this report.
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