BENGALS BOND BUYERS MAY BE WARY IF STADIUM GOES OFF SCHEDULE

          Hamilton County and Bengals officials say they're
     "still on schedule" to have the team's new $400.3M football
     complex finished by August 2000, even though "[t]he land
     isn't bought, the money isn't borrowed, and Cincinnati's
     riverfront looks the same as it did before" the stadium
     deal, according to Lucy May of the CINCINNATI ENQUIRER. 
     Preparation of the site is scheduled to begin in February
     '98, with construction set to start in March.  However,
     county officials "had hoped" to settle with property owners
     sooner to get "faster access to the land" for the project. 
     County Commissioner John Dowlin said that the county's
     financial consultants "have advised" officials "not to
     issue" $322.7M in bonds to pay for the stadium project
     "until the county's lawyers have negotiated a purchase
     price" for all the property.  County Administrator David
     Krings said that the county "probably will issue the bonds
     in January," which leaves "a little more than" two-and-a-
     half years to build the stadium (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 11/2).