Pros and cons West of Roebling Bridge Pros Preferred site of Reds Enhances downtown, Northern Kentucky businesses Cons No political support from city or county Precludes other, non-sports development Refurbishing Cinergy Field Pros Familiar and accessible location Cheaper than new construction Cons Reds would have to play elsewhere during renovation Little political support The Wedge Pros Keeps Reds on riverfront Enhances downtown business; adds 2,500 parking spaces for office workers Cons Tight fit means impinging on Cinergy Field Presents engineering and construction challenge Baseball on Broadway Pros Immediate economic impact on neighborhood Keeps riverfront open for other development Cons The Reds don't want to be there Distances thousands of visitors from riverfront

BY LUCY MAY and GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati and the Reds celebrated their 128th year together this past week in another festive gathering on the riverfront.

No town has had a home team longer than this one. But the town has yet to decide where home will be for the next generation.

It could be Broadway Commons, a grass-roots idea pushed by restaurateur and urban advocate Jim Tarbell. Or it could be somewhere on the riverfront, the Reds' choice. Hamilton County commissioners get to decide.

Here's what's on the table:

Broadway Commons - an area of mostly parking lots at Broadway and Reading Road on the northern fringe of downtown.

''The Wedge'' - either one of two spots wedged between Riverfront Coliseum and Cinergy Field.

West of Roebling Suspension Bridge - vacant riverfront land that the city prizes for other development.

Reusing Cinergy Field - razing it, which the Reds have mentioned as an option again recently, or renovating the existing stadium.

It is Cincinnati's biggest debate since Hamilton County taxpayers were asked 13 months ago to raise the sales tax by a half cent on the dollar to pay for the Reds stadium and another one for the Bengals.

Hamilton County Commission President Bob Bedinghaus, who is leading the stadium development efforts, has said he wants to get the Reds site decided as quickly as possible.

And Reds Managing Executive John Allen hinted recently that negotiations with the county could be complete by the end of June. Even so, there is no firm deadline for deciding where the Reds will go.

What is clear is where the Bengals will be. They have their new place picked out on the western edge of the downtown riverfront.

That leaves the Reds and the county privately reaching for a deal that provides a nostalgic ballpark in the mold of Denver's Coors Field and Baltimore's Camden Yards.

Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls, a Broadway Commons backer who leads the city on a steering committee on stadium siting, said the public interest cannot be disregarded.

''They need to remember they're not the only parties involved,'' she said of the county and the team. ''The other important party is the public.''

One element of the public was most visible last week. Broadway Commons backers had a baseball flag-raising, took out full-page ads and joined Mr. Tarbell's cheerleading at the Findlay Market Parade on Opening Day.

But many of Cincinnati's most influential and powerful continue to lobby to keep the Reds on the river.

They include Ohio Senate President Richard Finan, R-Evendale, and John Barrett, CEO of Western Southern Life and chairman of Downtown Cincinnati Inc., a non-profit agency that promotes downtown.

Mr. Finan said he thinks two stadiums on the riverfront would be the ''centerpiece of downtown.''

The Senate president, who would be instrumental in directing state dollars for infrastructure improvements, said placing the Reds at Broadway Commons would mean building more access to highways. Broadway backers, however, dispute that more access is needed.

But even more important, the Reds, from suspended CEO Marge Schott on down, want a river site. Mr. Allen, in fact, said the team isn't even negotiating with the county about Broadway Commons.

He said the club has carefully reviewed all the studies on the Broadway Commons proposal and has eliminated it from consideration.

''All our negotiations with the county at this point have been focused on the riverfront,'' Mr. Allen said.

The county, however, says site options still are open.

''As far as I am concerned, nobody from the county has been authorized to discuss riverfront sites only,'' said county Commissioner John Dowlin. He is the commission's most ardent supporter of Broadway Commons.

The three-person commission must vote on a site, but it's moot if the Reds don't agree. It's believed the Reds want to sign a similar memorandum of understanding that the county reached with the Bengals, which included a mutually agreeable site.

Only Mr. Dowlin has stated his intentions; he's for Broadway Commons. Mr. Bedinghaus hasn't said what he prefers, yet he has dropped hints he is for the riverfront. Tom Neyer, the newest commissioner, says he is still reviewing all options.

Mr. Tarbell, who has pushed the Broadway Commons site for five years, still has faith that Baseball on Broadway will become a reality. He refers to executives advocating the river as ''selfish interests.''

''It's the best site, it's the best choice, and that's why it will win,'' said Mr. Tarbell, owner of Arnold's Bar & Grill, a few blocks from Broadway Commons.

The Reds' Mr. Allen says that while he has a lot of respect for Mr. Tarbell and what he's done, it doesn't change the team's position.

''We've analyzed it,'' he said. ''We're looking for a riverfront option.''

He said the Reds have had a great deal of success on the riverfront, the team's home since 1970. The riverfront is closer to Fountain Square - the heart of the city - than Broadway Commons, he argues. And a riverfront location gives fans from Northern Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia easier access and more hotel options for weekend visits than Broadway Commons does, he said.

''We're a regional team,'' he said. ''Our level of success to a great extent depends on what happens on the weekend with fans coming in from Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia.''

Here are some arguments for and against each of the primary sites:

The Wedge

''The Wedge'' is a compromise sitting between the Coliseum and Cinergy Field.

There are really two, slightly different ''wedge'' choices.

One is a site promoted by John Schneider, head of DCI's transportation committee, between the two sports facilities. It requires reconstruction of Fort Washington Way, which is part of a regional transit plan yet to be funded. HOK Architects Inc., the county's consultant, has drawn a site about 100 feet to the south. It doesn't require reconstruction of Fort Washington Way.

Mr. Schneider and architect Michael Schuster argue their idea - the north option - is the best marriage of an urban setting and the river.

They would like to see the site as far north as possible, tying in the buildings and bustle of downtown.

But with the gateway of the park sketched for Second and Main streets, Mr. Schneider says he is fighting a perception that there would be a poor view from the stadium. They can't visualize what it will look like when Cinergy Field is torn down, he said.

''There'll be a view of the river, the bridge and football stadium once it comes down,'' Mr. Schneider said.

Mr. Schneider argues a north site can be built with minimal interference to Fort Washington Way.

''All you lose is the access from Pete Rose Way to Main Street, and access from the Suspension Bridge to Route 50 East, because there are no exits east of Main Street,'' Mr. Schneider said.

In February, Mr. Bedinghaus said without hesitation that a baseball park between the coliseum and Cinergy Field can work, according to an HOK analysis. But he stressed that simply because it could fit didn't mean that the county and the Reds would agree to put it there. That remains open to negotiations.

The core of the ''wedge'' argument is that it forms a bookend effect with the Bengals' new stadium at Central Avenue and Elm Street. The hope is for cultural attractions and green space to fill the bookends.

Mr. Schneider also says parking is better at Main than on Broadway. With the Reds needing about 16,400 spaces within a half mile, he says there are 14,234 spaces within six blocks north of the Main Street site, opposed to 8,387 at Broadway.

''DCI staff has observed in the northeast quadrant of downtown, there are about 2,500 parkers,'' said Mr. Schneider, referring to the Broadway site. ''You have to build about 8,000 to fill the deficit, meaning about 5,000 of those spaces may not be every day. They would be used if made cheap enough. I'm all in favor of cheap parking if someone wants to build it. But what you've got is 5,000 special-purpose spaces with little potential revenue outside of baseball.''

Mr. Schneider said that parking could be Broadway's ''fatal flaw.''

But the Urban Design Associates (UDA) study found that traffic in and out of both sites - on the river and Broadway Commons - are both ''excellent'' with the present expressway system and other roads, said UDA's Don Carter, who was hired by the city and county.

Mr. Carter said that UDA's studies show that parking is also equal at both sites, with a need, in each case, for an on-site parking garage holding 3,000 cars and on-site surface parking totaling another 1,000-2,000. (Cleveland's Jacobs Field has 3,200 on-site parking spots; Coors Field has 5,000.)

The parking at Broadway or on the river would be equally well-used during non-baseball game hours by office workers downtown, Mr. Carter said.

Mr. Schneider knows his site has a potentially fatal flaw.

According to the current Cinergy Field lease, no changes can be made to the stadium without approval of both the Reds and Bengals. Bengals director of stadium development Troy Blackburn has said the club has concerns about the possibility of losing seats and parking during construction, and the team's first instinct is to prefer it be done after it leaves.

At some point in the building of the Wedge the northeast chunk of the parking garage has to get blown up, and some of the seats in the original facility may have to go.

The ideal plan is to have those changes come after the Bengals' final game in 1999, since they are looking to open their new stadium in 2000.

''If the Bengals have some objections to it, then, sure, maybe it can't get done,'' Mr. Schneider said.

But the Bengals could get a payoff in negotiations to compensate for the loss of parking and seats.

''There are non-financial considerations,'' Mr. Blackburn said. ''Do you just tell season-ticket holders, 'Sorry, see you in 2000?' ''

Mr. Schneider is adamant that the engine driving the stadiums on the river concept should be highway projects that must be done anyway.

''We should hitch all the capital projects to this highway project and have a much better riverfront instead of trying to do it piecemeal,'' Mr. Schneider said.

Broadway Commons

Backers of Baseball on Broadway make their case with romantic visions, economic effect studies and yard signs.

The vision is baseball as it was meant to be, they say, at an old-fashioned ballpark near a neighborhood surrounded by pubs and restaurants that draw fans in to celebrate a win or take solace together after a loss.

But Mr. Dowlin, a county commissioner, prefers to consider the hard, cold numbers.

An analysis of a study done by stadium consultant ZHA Inc. of Annapolis, Md., showed that fans would spend an estimated $1.9 million more a year in Cincinnati if the new ballpark were at Broadway Commons, Mr. Dowlin said.

A Broadway Commons site also would revitalize downtown's entertainment district, according to the ZHA study, and would bolster the developing Backstage entertainment district near the Aronoff Center.

And, Mr. Dowlin said, it would free up riverfront land for other kinds of development.

Others talk about the romance of a ballpark at the foot of Mount Adams, but Mr. Dowlin says simply, ''It's financial.''

Mayor Qualls argues that putting the Bengals stadium on the western riverfront already assures economic development there. Siting the new baseball stadium at Broadway Commons would allow for further growth in that part of town, she says.

The ''economic spinoff'' of the new sports facilities, she says, is the only reason she ever supported public financing of new stadiums.

''If there is no economic spinoff, in my opinion, there is no justification for this,'' she said.

The Cincinnati Planning Commission voted 5-1 in January to endorse Broadway Commons as a baseball stadium site.

Commission members said the location would best support the commission's goals: to reconnect the riverfront with downtown, to encourage a network of water's edge parks, and to promote a mixed use of the central riverfront - including business, housing, entertainment and hotels.

Earlier that same month, the Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission voted unanimously to support Broadway for baseball.

Broadway Commons proponents point out further that there already has been about $200 million of public and private investment in development on Main Street and the Aronoff Center, within a few blocks of Broadway Commons.

Mr. Tarbell says numbers from Denver make his case. Sales tax revenues in lower downtown Denver, where the Colorado Rockies' new ballpark was built, increased 86 percent to $4.7 million in 1995, the year Coors Field opened, according to the Downtown Denver Partnership Inc.

In other words, $2.2 million in sales tax revenues were generated in 1995 that were not generated in 1993 or 1994. During those two years the expansion Colorado Rockies had a team, but it was playing in isolated Mile High Stadium, the football stadium.

The biggest disadvantage for Broadway Commons is that the Reds want to be on the riverfront. Mrs. Schott has expressed concern about Broadway Commons' close proximity to the county jail, and she fears crime could be a problem at the site.

The Cinergy Field options

In recent days, Mr. Allen has re-introduced the idea of razing Cinergy Field and building a new stadium in the same spot. Such a plan would require the Reds to play a couple of seasons in the Bengals' new stadium, he said.

But in January, county commissioner Mr. Bedinghaus ruled out any possibility that the Reds would play in a new Bengals stadium while a baseball field is constructed.

Mr. Bedinghaus also has said he doesn't want the Reds to play their games on the road as their new ballpark is being built.

He cited the extra cost to reconfigure the football field for baseball ($15 million) and the long-term effect on a state-of-the-art football and soccer field.

''Razing Cinergy Field and building a baseball park in the exact same location is not an option in my mind,'' he said then.

Another Cinergy option is to renovate it into a baseball-only stadium instead of tearing it down. But Mr. Dowlin said he doesn't think that option could win the two votes it would need to pass.

''Even though it would save a whole lot of money, it's not what the voters approved,'' Mr. Dowlin said, referring back to the half-cent sales tax campaign that promised voters two new stadiums for the Reds and Bengals.

The Reds also have said they don't like that option, likening it to settling for a used car.

West of the bridge

It is the most sought-after site in the city. Call it the postcard effect, with a stadium just west of the Roebling Suspension Bridge hogging those TV network shots of Cincinnati.

The Reds keep saying it's their first option, even though it is dead politically.

Not putting the Reds next to the bridge is the one thing the county and city can agree on because their consultants are saying putting two stadiums next to each other chokes off other development, such as cultural attractions like a National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Plus, the Bengals say they have what amounts to a verbal commitment from the county not to put a Reds' ballpark next to the football stadium.

Cincinnati Bengals president and general manager Mike Brown sought the guarantee after county officials told him his new football stadium couldn't go just west of the bridge because they didn't want any stadium there. That's when he agreed to move his new site further west.

What's next

Ultimately, the decision about where the Reds' new home will be is not a matter of who will win - the county or the Reds - but a matter of what kind of deal the two sides strike.

The county's paid consultants have said Broadway Commons could work just as well as a riverfront site for the new ballpark. In some ways, that makes things more complicated, said John Williams, president of the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce.

'I'm sorry there's not a simple solution,'' Mr. Williams said. ''Nothing is going to work for everybody. The only way to do it is effect compromise and there's a sense this will get resolved. What I learned from the Bengals' deal is the only way to compromise is not going in with an absolute position.''

Mr. Williams and Scott Borgemenke, executive director of the Cincinnati Business Committee, helped mediate the negotiations on the new football stadium site between the county and the Bengals. They might very well end up playing a similar role with this decision when the time comes.

Mr. Borgemenke thinks the decision could be coming soon.

In the next three or four months, he predicted, the entire community will look back on all these discussions about where to put the ballpark ''as a fond memory.''

Reporter John Erardi contributed.

NEIGHBORHOOD A BIG PART OF BALLPARK
BALLPARK, FANS' HONEYMOON SHORT
REDS HAVE HURDLES, HELP IN SITE HUNT
KENTUCKY DESERVES REDS, TOO
BORGMAN CARTOON

Recent stories

REDS PLAN SEAT LICENSING March 14, 1997
REDS TOLD BENGALS NOT PICKING SITE March 12, 1997
MAYOR SUPPORTS BROADWAY March 5, 1997
DESPITE FLOOD, REDS DON'T WAVER FROM RIVER March 5, 1997
BASEBALL ON MAIN PROPOSED Feb. 26, 1997
WEDGE SITE GETS BOOST FROM COUNTY Feb. 22, 1997
REDS, COUNTY RESUME STADIUM TALKS Feb. 19, 1997
ONLY CRIME IS NOT CONSIDERING BROADWAY Feb. 18, 1997
RIVER SITE OR LAWSUIT Feb. 15, 1997
REDS ARE READY TO PLAY HARDBALL Feb. 15, 1997
SCHOTT THREATENS TO MOVE IF REDS AREN'T ON RIVER Feb. 14, 1997