The Bengals filed suit against Hamilton County
yesterday over "the right to manage the daily, year-round
operations at Paul Brown Stadium," according to Dan Klepal
of the CINCINNATI ENQUIRER. Bengals officials claim the
lease signed with the county in '97 "guarantees the team's
right to manage" the $450M facility. The suit asks a judge
to "force Hamilton County to hire the Bengals' company, Paul
Brown Stadium, Ltd., to manage the stadium." But county
officials say that "the Bengals gave up their guarantee to
manage the stadium when the team refused to go through a
pubic bidding process in hiring staff and in buying
equipment." The county feels the "team is required by law
to make purchases only after evaluating public bids." The
Bengals' complaint "says that there is an exception to the
public bidding process for management of sports facilities."
Klepal writes that while it "was always assumed the Bengals
would "run the year-round, day-to-day operations at Paul
Brown Stadium," the two sides "started bickering when the
Bengals refused to go through the public process when making
several hires." The county is withholding more than $21,000
from the Bengals for salaries and equipment the team
purchased without accepting bids (CINCIN. ENQUIRER, 4/28).
