Three weeks into its sales campaign, Hamilton County,
OH, has sold 5,200 Charter Ownership Agreements (COAs, the
Bengals' term for seat licenses) for the new Bengals
stadium, according to Anne Michaud in the CINCINNATI
ENQUIRER. The $4M revenue total represents one-fifth of the
$20M goal "that must be met by April 30 to secure the club's
future in Cincinnati." Don Schumacher, chief of Tri-State
Sports, which is selling the COAs: "As far as I know, we're
off to the right start. I believe we will raise more than
the minimum required." Michaud notes that compared with
cities trying to attract an NFL team, seat license sales are
"at a crawl." St. Louis had 70,000 first day subscribers
when the city was trying to lure the Rams. Bengals season-
ticket holders have until January 31 to get a 10% discount
on their COAs, priced from $300-$1,500. Schumacher said the
high-priced licenses are selling first as "about" 4,000 of
the licenses were bought by season-ticket holders, with the
other 1,200 sales going to people who had never purchased
season tickets. The Bengals season-ticket base is about
5,000 (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 1/9).
