It's goal to go for stadium
Bengals, county could have lease deal today
BY LUCY MAY
and GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati EnquirerHamilton County commissioners and the Cincinnati Bengals closed in on a lease for a new stadium costing about $270 million, sources said Wednesday night.
The sides met late Wednesday to smooth details and hoped to announce an agreement as soon as this afternoon. The commissioners called a meeting for 11 a.m. today, where their approval of the lease would set up a news conference announcing the Bengals are in Cincinnati until 2026.
While the three commissioners finished an executive session Wednesday at about 8 p.m. by splitting a large bag of pretzels, county administrator and lead negotiator David J. Krings met with the Bengals.
"From what I've seen, we have accomplished our goal of trying to be on the leading edge of the next generation of football - soccer facilities," Hamilton County commission President Bob Bedinghaus said earlier Wednesday.
A lease must be signed by Sunday or the half-cent sales tax increase is repealed. Officials hope ground breaks in January.
"It's been a long road. I can't remember how long it's been," said Bengals President Mike Brown of the 14-month long negotiations. "We hope it's (today)."
One of the key elements of the lease discussions was whether to include a canopy over some seats. Initially, stadium architects proposed high-tech canopies that the team could project images onto. But the technology doesn't exist yet to make that work, a county source said. Instead, canopies that will be included would function more like a fancy awning to keep rain and snow off fans.
Also in the lease is provision for reimbursement to the Bengals if the stadium isn't ready for the 2000 season. A source said the club would be paid $4 million by the construction manager, not the county, for each game not played in the new stadium.
County Commissioner John S. Dowlin, a critic of the project, said he'll vote for the lease even though he's uncomfortable with the cost. He said negotiations have consisted of give-and-take on design elements.
"The number will be higher than I like," Mr. Dowlin said. "But it seems pretty comparable with what other stadiums have been. . . . It depends on which side you're on, but there has been too much give and not enough take."
Mr. Bedinghaus said the "guaranteed maximum price" of the stadium could be higher or lower than the price the county and team agree to in their lease.
The county's construction manager will negotiate that price, which would include every detail of construction. If the price is higher, the lease will spell out a process by which the team and county will resolve the price difference, Mr. Bedinghaus said. Earlier this month, Hamilton County public works Director Gary VanHart said the county set a $240 million goal for the project. At that time, the team was $48 million above the goal.
But negotiators for the team and county have worked to reduce the cost of the stadium for the past several weeks, Mr. VanHart said. The $240 million figure included the cost of the stadium, parking and stadium plaza. It did not include land acquisition, design fees or the cost of moving utility lines on the site.
The estimated $270 million price is higher than other stadium projects around the country for a variety of reasons.
Earlier this month, Cleveland officials announced their city's new football stadium will cost $247 million, and the facility opening in 1999 is already on city-owned land.
But Cincinnati's stadium requires flood protection because of its riverfront location that Cleveland's stadium won't need, Mr. Bedinghaus said.
"If you add $8 million to $10 million to $11 million for flood protection, that's what it would cost to build Cleveland's stadium in Cincinnati," he said.
Mr. Bedinghaus also said the fact Cincinnati is starting up a year later accounts for some increased costs, as does the stadium design pushing 70 percent of the seats to the sidelines.
"Our innovative design is a reacauses a little added expense in elevators and up-and-down transportation because effectively you're building two different buildings as opposed to one you circulate all the way around."
Cincinnati's football stadium also will be more expensive than recently completed stadiums in Charlotte, N.C., and Tampa. But those cities have the advantage of a 12-month construction season, Mr. Bedinghaus said, and they don't have to pay prevailing wage, a union wage that is significantly higher than non-union rates.
"Frankly, that's a cost difference that is factored into every public project in Ohio," Mr. Bedinghaus said. "And 20 percent is $40 million."
Mr. Bedinghaus said there should be no fear the county has run out of money to also fund a new Reds' ballpark.
"We are well within our budget goals," Mr. Bedinghaus said. "Our analysis and planning took into account there would be two stadiums."
The financial elements of the lease are expected to mirror the financial agreements reached in September when the county and team signed a "memorandum of understanding."
In the September agreement, the Bengals agreed to contribute more than $44 million to the stadium project.
More than half of that contribution - $26 million - will come from the sale of "charter ownership agreements" (COAs). The COAs, which are also called seat licenses, are one-time fees that give fans the right to buy season tickets.
The team pays $11.7 million in rent over nine years of their lease. The Bengals will pay no rent for the last 16 years of the agreement, according to the September document.
The team is guaranteed more than $29.4 million in "non-football" revenues during the last nine years of the lease, according to the September agreement. During those years, the county promises the Bengals a minimum amount of money from the use of the stadium for other events.
County officials already have begun acquiring the land needed for the stadium, which will sit between Mehring Way and Third Street, roughly between Central Avenue and Elm Street.
DETAILS REMAIN BEFORE CONSTRUCTION BEGINS
Previous stories
Stadium victory at hand May 26, 1997