The opening of Great American Ball Park marks the latest step in a $1 billion redevelopment effort for Cincinnati's waterfront that has featured adjustments and reassessments throughout.
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| The entrance at Great American |
Hamilton County voters in March 1996 approved a 0.5 percent sales tax increase to help fund the desired project, which called for new stadiums for both the MLB Reds and NFL Bengals. The project also included plans for a museum, parking garages and public parks in the area between the venues.
Increased costs for the facilities, however, forced some of these non-sports projects to be postponed. Local officials also placed a $250 million cap on the public's contribution to the Reds stadium construction effort, hoping to ward off criticism that money gained from the approved tax increase was not being spent as proposed.
The Reds paid the county $30 million when construction on the ballpark began and will cover the additional $11 million in what county officials said has become a $291 million stadium construction effort.
Additional public money is being spent on projects related to stadium construction, for a total development cost of $346.2 million. That total includes the cost of demolishing the team's adjacent former home, Cinergy Field, which came down simultaneously with the new park going up.
Hamilton County will get $2.5 million a year in rent from the Reds for the first nine years of the team's 35-year lease, with an annual rent of $1 for the final 26 years. The county also has imposed a 25-cent surcharge on each ticket sold. The county will deposit $1 million annually into a capital improvement account, as well as $500,000 each year into an account intended to help reimburse the Reds for a portion of the costs they incur in operating and maintaining the stadium. The team will retain all remaining stadium revenue, including money generated by a 30-year, $75 million naming-rights deal with Great American Insurance Co., signed in June 2000.
Major stadium sponsors are Pepsi-Cola, Provident Bank, Great American Insurance Co., Jeff Wyler Automotive, Chevrolet Motors, Anheuser-Busch, Kahn's, Sofa Express, Time Warner Cable, Tri-Health Inc., Cinergy and the Ohio Lottery.
Click here for a listing of subcontractors for Great American Ball Park.
