Saturday, November 13, 1999New stadium might bar kids' play
Bengals: Turf may be torn by peewees
BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati EnquirerThis might be the last major league year for local peewee football.
For five or six years, the Clermont Northeast Youth Football Association has organized playoff games for as many as 20 youth teams at Cinergy Field the weekend after Thanksgiving. It is one of several local groups that holds such events there.
But next year, the kids probably won't have their playoffs in the new Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals worry the three days of games could damage the new stadium's grass playing field.
Becky Reuss of Bridgetown thinks that's baloney.
“They've got professional grounds crews,” she said of the Bengals. “We're talking about children. My child weighs 50 pounds. He's a munchkin.”
Troy Blackburn, the Bengals' director of stadium development, said the team will do all it can to accommodate youth football in the new $404 million stadium complex.
“There's nobody that wants to see youth football happen more than the Cincinnati Bengals,” Mr. Blackburn said.
Last week, the National Football League awarded a $70,000 grant to North Fairmount Community Center to support its youth football pro gram. The Bengals, the Cincinnati Recreation Commission and the United Way pushed for the grant, said Bengals spokesman Jack Brennan.
Mr. Blackburn said it's difficult to repair damage to a natural grass field late in the season, and the Bengals will be trying to minimize wear and tear on the new field.
He suggested the youth leagues could play in the new stadium earlier in the season and have their playoff games on the team's artificial-turf practice field.
“It's going to happen one way or the other,” Mr. Blackburn said. “We just have to work it out so we don't damage the field.”
Mrs. Reuss said that doesn't make sense because her lawn usually looks nice until January or February. She said her sons want to play their playoff games in a stadium and see their names in lights. And she's trying to organize a letter-writing campaign to make it happen.
“I can take a lot of disappointment,” she said. “But when you mess with my kids, you've screwed up.”
Playing at Cinergy Field likely won't be an option next year because partial demolition of the stadium is to begin in August or September.
Eric Burden, coordinator of the Clermont Northeast Youth Football Association that hosts the playoffs at the stadium, said he hadn't received official word that playoffs wouldn't be held at the new football stadium.
“We were just under the assumption it would change,” he said.
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