Stadium price tag growing
County official says cost will be
25% more than estimated
BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati EnquirerA new stadium for the Cincinnati Bengals will cost at least 20 percent to 25 percent more than the original $180 million estimate, a county official said Wednesday.
And the cost could grow even higher, said Hamilton County Public Works Director Gary VanHart.
The original $180 million estimate was very rough and was based on a football stadium built in Charlotte, N.C., that was completed in 1995, Mr. VanHart said.
Inflation and the fact that labor costs are much higher in Cincinnati will add between $36 million to $45 million to the project's cost, he said.
Troy Blackburn, the Bengals' director of stadium development, said it's too early in the designing of the stadium to make any good cost estimates.
The cost likely will be higher than the privately financed North Carolina project because the Bengals' stadium will be completed five years later and will require laborers to be paid prevailing wage, which is typically higher than non-union labor rates, Mr. Blackburn said.
That 20 percent to 25 percent increase doesn't include any design ''extras'' that the county might include to make the stadium more functional for the Bengals, Mr. VanHart added.
''We're not going to spend a dollar amount that builds a stadium that's not functional,'' he said. ''But we don't have unlimited funds.''
Hamilton County Commissioner John Dowlin said Wednesday that he has no doubt the half-cent sales tax increase passed to fund stadium construction can handle a 20 percent to 25 percent increase.
But part of the negotiations with both the Bengals and the Cincinnati Reds on the new stadiums is that their financial contributions are based on the cost of the new stadiums, he said.
''The more they cost, the more they have to pay,'' he said. ''But at some point you have to say enough is enough.''
As a starting point for the discussion of how much the county can afford, it has asked the Bengals to outline all the design elements of the team's 67,000-seat dream stadium - sort of a wish list, Mr. VanHart said.
Then if the county can't afford everything - which county officials assume will be the case - the county and team will start whittling the project, he said.
Mr. Dowlin said he's concerned that some people don't seem to understand that resources are limited.
''With so much of the things going on, it's, 'Well, the sales tax will pay for it,''' he said. ''The Bengals want the Taj Mahal.''
But Mr. Blackburn said the Bengals ''are asking for nothing in the new stadium that hasn't been built elsewhere.''
The county's budget office estimates the half-cent sales tax will have generated $49 million for stadium construction by year's end. The tax brings in about $4 million a month; 70 percent of it goes for stadium construction and the rest for property-tax rebates.
The higher tax took effect June 1.
A $300 million cost estimate has been floating around for the Bengals stadium, but that figure is a high-end guess that also includes paying for project design, land and infrastructure improvements, Mr. VanHart said.
Cincinnati lawyer Tim Mara, who led an unsuccessful campaign against the half-cent sales tax increase, said the county never has had a firm idea of how much the two new stadiums would cost.
''It's not at all surprising'' that the price tag is growing, he said. ''And I suspect this won't be the end of it.''
Cleveland estimates that its new 72,000-seat football stadium will cost $242.8 million. It is scheduled for completion in July 1999. The Bengals' new stadium is scheduled to be finished a year after that.
A stadium task force said a new Reds stadium would cost about $160 million. An informal estimate by Turner Construction last summer pegged the cost at $180.5 million.
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Stadium gaining ground? April 2,,1997
