BY ANNE MICHAUD
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The location debate has left many people wondering how Cincinnati got into this. After all, voters last approved two stadiums on the riverfront, right?

Well, that depends on whom you ask.

The site was never spelled out on the ballot, though some pro-tax promotional material touted two stadiums on the riverfront.

Broadway Commons surfaced as an option in May during lease negotiations between Hamilton County and the Bengals. Sources said the county was searching for a less expensive alternative to Robert Castellini's riverfront property, but land prices have been kept secret.

County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus and Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls, citing economic development reasons, came out strongly in favor of one stadium for Broadway Commons, a site 12 blocks north of the river bordering Over-the-Rhine and Pendleton.

Investment banker John Glennon, who has worked on stadium projects for Alex. Brown & Sons in Chicago, said the reasoning makes sense: ''If you want to use stadiums as an impetus to other development, you may want to put one in another area where you get double the bang.''

But Bengals General Manager Mike Brown quickly shot down the idea. The Bengals commissioned a poll of 500 residents, 68 percent of whom said they prefer the riverfront for football.

City and county leaders decided to hire an urban design firm to make the call. That report is due in mid-December.

By the time the county and the Bengals announced a pre-lease deal in early September, it included a clause that the football site must be mutually agreeable - or the deal is off.

''We have always said from the beginning that the best place for a football stadium is along the river,'' Mr. Brown said.

His reasons: parking is adequate, vehicle access is the best in the National Football League, people enjoy visiting the river, and the stadium advertises itself to all who cross the bridge from Kentucky and the international airport.

For Broadway Commons, that leaves baseball.

The Reds' managing executive, John Allen, and owner Marge Schott have said they prefer a riverfront site. In lease negotiations with the county, the Reds have mentioned leaving Cincinnati for Northern Kentucky or Indianapolis if they do not receive the riverfront site.

''Where they (the stadiums) end up is ego-drive more than anything else,'' said Tad Shultz of HNTB architects in Kansas City, Mo. ''Each team is going to want to be perceived as getting the same thing the other's got.''

What baseball does have at Broadway Commons is a cheering section. It was formed more than two years ago by a vocal entrepreneur, Jim Tarbell, owner of Arnold's restaurant near the uptown site.

Mr. Tarbell argues that any parking spaces built there for baseball would find a triple use - for game days, for employees working in nearby Hamilton County offices and for the brew pubs, restaurants and nightspots along thriving Main Street.

''The area has made improvements on its own, without public dollars. Why wouldn't you want to support that and get it done - it's not even half done yet,'' Mr. Tarbell argued.

Stadiums: Decision of a lifetime

Published Dec. 2, 1996.