Bengals Offer County Financial Concessions On Stadium Lease

Bengals Offer Short- And Long-Term Financial Concessions For Lease At Paul Brown Stadium

The Bengals are "offering to make short- and long-term financial concessions on their Paul Brown Stadium lease to help alleviate the predicted shortfall in the Hamilton County stadium fund, a move that could end years of bitter legal wrangling between the team and county," according to a front-page piece by Mark Curnutte of the CINCINNATI ENQUIRER. The Bengals, in an October 16 letter to county Administrator Patrick Thompson, offered to "relieve the county of $2[M] worth of capital repairs to the stadium." The Bengals indicated that they "would pay to replace carpet inside the stadium's club level area, convert to an electronic ticketing system and put in a new playing field." Those improvements are the county's "responsibility under current lease terms." Bengals VP Troy Blackburn in the letter said that the team's "offer of assistance would 'total roughly $40[M]' over the life of the lease, which ends after the 2026 NFL season." As part of the $40M, the Bengals "would relieve the county of its obligation to make 'out-year payments' of roughly" $2.5-2.7M a year for the "final nine years of the lease." Blackburn in the letter said that the team "would like to change the tenor of the relationship between the club and the county, which has been cantankerous at times and included the county bringing antitrust claims against the Bengals." County Commission President David Pepper said that the county "approached the Bengals and Reds and asked for their help in solving the stadium fund shortage, expected to be" $13-14M in "each of the next two years before escalating." Bengals Dir of PR Jack Brennan Sunday said, "The letter speaks for itself. We have chosen not to comment on these dealings in public and will continue to choose not to" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 2/1).

STRINGS ATTACHED? In Cincinnati, Jessica Brown writes the Bengals' $40M offer "won't fix the problem and comes with several strings -- one of which, if true, would soundly sink the deal." The county commissioners said that "one of the concessions appears to allow the Bengals to end the lease -- and potentially leave Cincinnati -- in 2017." That is "nearly 10 years earlier than the current lease allows." But the team indicated that the "paragraph in question simply solidifies the lease as it currently stands, until 2016." The Bengals' concessions "still won't generate enough revenue to fix" the county's stadium fund. That means the county has a "lot of money to come up with before this problem is solved." But the commissioners said that the "good thing about the offer ... is that the Bengals have come to the table." It is the "first time that's happened in nearly a decade." The "bad thing for the county is that the Bengals still hold all the cards" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 2/2). Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune yesterday said that he "thinks the Bengals' offer to help the county fix its stadium fund is a bad deal." Portune: "They're asking us to give up every penny we'd ever make on the stadium. They'd be let out of the lease as early as 2017." Pepper said that he was "concerned about the wording of the letter too, but that the team has assured him they didn't intend to insinuate that they'd leave early and that they don't plan to do so" (CINCINNATI.com, 2/1).

STARTING POINT: In Cincinnati, Paul Daugherty writes, "It's good the team wants to talk. Let's not forget that after the club bludgeoned the county in the lease deal, the county sued the club, and lost." If the team "never wanted to speak to the county again, that would be understandable." But the fact that the Bengals "even offered to talk is laudable." The Bengals "want all money from any naming-rights deal," and they "want all revenues from every event" at the stadium. They also "want the county's luxury box back, so they can lease it themselves." The Bengals "aren't exactly making a benevolent gesture," but "did you expect they would?" Nonetheless, "it's a start" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 2/2).