The final piece in the Bengals stadium financing puzzle will fall into place today as Tri-State Sports & Events Inc. lays out its pricing and terms for 50,000 seat licenses.
The licenses, one-time payments for the right to purchase season tickets, are becoming popular as a way to raise up-front money for stadium construction.
The Enquirer has learned:
- Season ticket holders will have until Jan. 31 to apply; afterward, they lose all discounts and seating priority.
- Of those who apply before the deadline, people who have held season tickets the longest will receive first priority seating. Next priority goes to anyone else who applies before Jan. 31.
- By the end of March, purchasers of the licenses, or what Tri-State calls charter ownership agreements, will be guaranteed a seating area. Exact seat assignments will have to wait until the stadium is completed.
- Low-priced seat licenses outnumber the high-priced by 7-to-1. The licenses are to average about $500. Don Schumacher, head of Tri-State Sports, originally predicted a range of $250 to $1,600, but sources say the range will not be that wide.
As The Enquirer revealed on Sunday, Tri-State Sports will offer a discount of up to 10 percent for season ticket holders of record as of Sept. 1. Club seat buyers will also receive a discount.
Tri-State Sports is a subsidiary of the Greater Cincinnati Sports and Events Commission. It is under contract to Hamilton County to wage a $1.3 million campaign to sell seat licenses.
Under terms of a deal with the Bengals, the county needs to sell $20 million worth of seat licenses by April 30 or it can walk away.
Seat licenses have met with stunning success in some markets, especially when the city was trying to attract a team. St. Louis, for example, had 70,000 first-day subscribers. The Rams soon packed their bags and left Los Angeles.
NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who is visiting Cincinnati in support of the Bengals' seat sales, said Monday he thinks seat licenses will succeed here.
Why? ''No. 1 is reasonable price,'' Mr. Tagliabue said. ''By reasonable, I would say not only for this market but for other markets.''
The seat licenses allow fans to pay directly for their entertainment, as opposed to a general tax, he added.
Max Muhleman, who will be running the seat license campaign for the Cleveland Browns Trust, said he is on schedule to launch his sale in late January or February.
In Cleveland, angry citizens have mounted a 5,000-signature petition against seat licenses, saying the Browns Trust is taking affordability out of the realm of regular people.
''There are people who object to anything, including salvation ... and this is something you actually have to pay for,'' Mr. Muhleman said of the petition.
He is offering discounts for season ticket holders - the longer-held the ticket, the deeper the discount. Another discount is planned for people who invest in the stadium who were not previous ticket holders, Mr. Muhleman said.
Discounts and the proper sales pitch will turn things around in Cleveland - and in Cincinnati, he said.
''That's the only way most of these facilities can get built is if fans and the community contribute,'' Mr. Muhleman said. ''Properly presented, there's a lot of persuasion in that argument.''
