COLUMBUS (AP) - Sports fans who wanted to bring big-league hockey to the Columbus will have to pay some big-league prices to see a game.

Season tickets for Columbus Blue Jackets games at Nationwide Arena will cost $15 to $125 per game when the NHL expansion team begins play in the fall of 2000.

That doesn't include the costs of personal seat licenses that will range from $500 to $4,000.

As many as 15,500 seats in the 18,500-seat arena will be held by owners of the seat licenses, said Cathy Mayne Lyttle, vice president of the team's ownership group. So far, more than 11,000 requests have been made for seat licenses.

The arena will have six preferred seating areas - from six-figure suites to seats against the glass.

Top-of-the-line seating for Nationwide Arena will be in 16 suites, being leased by Nationwide Insurance Enterprise, the lead developer of the downtown arena. The suites will seat 18, and commitments have been made for half of them.

Nationwide's vice president of advertising.

The suites will be ''like walking into a good-sized living room,'' Johnston said. He wouldn't say how much they will cost.

Revenue from the suites and seat licenses will go to Nationwide to pay for arena construction. Revenue from other suites and loges will go to the team.

The Blue Jackets are marketing five premium-seat options:

- 36 executive suites: These glass-enclosed rooms will cost more than $100,000 per year. They will include food and beverage service, two televisions and a private restroom. There will be 12 seats outside and four inside the suite.

- 22 loge boxes: These box-seat-like areas will seat six and feature a food and beverage counter and wait service. Each will have a television.

- 300 center ice seats: These will be in the first seven rows on one side of the arena, directly behind the penalty boxes and between the face-off circles. Amenities will include wide seats, wait service and access to a lounge under the ice surface.

- 100 glass seats: These will be the front row, just behind the glass surrounding the ice.

- 1,200 club seats: There are two price levels of these wide seats, which will be off a private concourse just below the suites.

Hamp Howell, president of Sports Facilities Marketing Group, which has been hired to sell upscale seats, said the plush seats, suites and loges were designed to appeal to a wide range of corporate customers and well-heeled fans.

''I'm not aware of any arena that offers this variety,'' he said. ''The premium seating has been designed not to intrude on the average fan. That's why we went to fewer suites.''