BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Hamilton County officials and the Cincinnati Reds are talking about selling personal seat licenses - similar to what the county and Bengals did - to pay for part of the team's financial contribution for a new ballpark.
The club's latest written proposal to the county offers the sale of seat licenses, also known as charter ownership agreements (COAs), as a part of the team's $30 million contribution to stadium construction costs.
The proposal is subject to negotiation, but it raises the spectre of large numbers of Reds fans having to pay one-time fees for the right to buy season tickets in a new ballpark.
The document, submitted to the county in June and obtained by The Enquirer through an Ohio public records request, also details some of the team's other demands:
- A ''mutually acceptable'' riverfront site.
- A ''feasibility study'' of the site to be completed to the Reds' satisfaction. If the team doesn't like the results, it can walk away from the deal.
- A completed ballpark in time for the 2002 season.
- A ballpark costing $235 million as of the year 2000. The cost would increase to reflect inflation and does not include such things as land costs, demolition, and design and architectural fees.
- Rewriting the team's existing lease with the county so that the county forgives any past-due rent and so that the Reds' rent payments are no more than $750,000 a year through 2000.
- From 2000 to 2002, the Reds would pay only $1 a year in rent to finish out their time in Cinergy Field.
- The team wants the county to establish two reserve funds. In one, the county would deposit $1 million a year for capital repairs. In the other, the county would deposit $1 million for operating and maintenance expenses.
Sources have also told The Enquirer that negotiators have discussed that the Reds might reap penalties if the new ballpark doesn't open on time. And there has been discussion about paying the Reds a certain amount per year until the new stadium is built if the ballpark can't be built right away.
The information made public Monday doesn't detail those figures. It also has several sections blacked out, which the county said were trade secrets of the Reds and not subject to disclosure under the state's public records law.
County officials stressed Monday that selling seat licenses is not a sure thing. ''That - along with everything else - has not been agreed to,'' County Administrator David Krings said.
Hamilton County Commission President Bob Bedinghaus, the county's point man on stadium issues, added, ''I don't know that COAs are as marketable in a baseball environment as they were in a football environment.''
The draft Memorandum of Understanding outlines the Reds' idea of what the team's contribution should be.
The team offers to pay $2.5 million in rent for 10 years on the new stadium and $1 a year after that. (In March, the team offered to pay $2 million annually in rent for 10 years.)
In addition, the team gives the county two options for getting the remainder of the team's financial contribution.
Under the first, the Reds would give $30 million up front, made up of money from seat license sales and other stadium-related revenues.
In the second, the county would keep naming rights for the stadium. The agreement doesn't specify how much such naming rights could fetch. For example, Cinergy Corp. paid $6 million to rename Riverfront Stadium for five years.
It is unclear whether seat licenses would be sold if the county were to opt for the naming-rights contribution method.
Mr. Bedinghaus stressed that the details of the Reds' financial contribution are still up in the air. ''The makeup of the contribution that the Reds would make to the stadium project is an integral part of the negotiations,'' he said.
Reds managing executive John Allen has declined to comment on negotiations. In March, Mr. Allen told The Enquirer that the team would consider seat license sales for perhaps 3,000 to 5,000 ''high-
profile'' seats.
''It's a way for us to contribute without gouging the average fan,'' Mr. Allen said at the time.
Back then, Mr. Allen seemed to be merging COAs with club seating. But the draft agreement draws a distinction, stating that the Reds would keep revenues from approximately 3,000 club seats and 50 luxury suites.
Seat licenses are fairly new to baseball. The Texas Rangers have a limited number of ''seat bonds'' in their 3-year-old stadium, and the San Francisco Giants plan to sell 15,000 licenses in their planned stadium for a one-time fee of $2,300 each.
The bulk of the Bengals' seats in the team's new Paul Brown Stadium, to be completed for the 2000 football season, come with a transferable COA averaging $500.
This year, the Reds' blue-seat season tickets cost $1,135 each.
The draft agreement gives no details on how much COAs would cost in a new Reds ballpark or how many of the stadium's 45,000 seats would require them.
The language concerning a site is a bit more clear. If adopted by the county, a ''mutually acceptable'' riverfront site kills the ballpark location at Broadway and Reading Road known as Broadway Commons.
While the document doesn't spell out a specific riverfront site, county leaders have said the only option on the river is a location between Riverfront Coliseum and Cinergy Field, known as Baseball on Main or ''the Wedge.''
The Wedge site has been described as a construction challenge because part of Cinergy Field's parking structure and seating bowl would have to be torn down during the final phases of building a new ballpark. That difficulty helps explain why the Reds would want a detailed study before agreeing to the site.
The draft agreement being negotiated is the foundation for an initial agreement that ultimately will lead to a lease deal. The county followed a similar process in working with the Bengals.
The Bengals and county signed a deal in September, announced a stadium site in February and signed a final lease in May.
County and team negotiators will meet again Thursday. Mr. Bedinghaus said the county does not have a deadline for reaching an agreement.
''At this stage in the negotiations, we will meet regularly,'' he said. ''Both parties understand the benefit of wrapping this up sooner rather than later.''
HIGHLIGHTS OF REDS' PROPOSAL
REDS PAGE
Previous stadium stories
REDS WANT GUARANTEE ON 2002 July 5, 1997
REDS SAY THEY NEED GOOD STADIUM DEAL TO COMPETE July 4, 1997
CITY, COUNTY FEUD OVER CONSULTANT July 4, 1997
REDS ASKED FOR $235M STADIUM July 3, 1997
'WEDGE' FOES DEMAND STADIUM STUDY July 2, 1997
'WEDGE' TO BE PUT TO THE TEST July 1, 1997
REDS UNMOVED BY PRICE GAP June 20, 1997
DOWLIN SAYS BROADWAY CAN SAVE $62 MILLION June 19, 1997
BALLPARK ESTIMATE: $230 MILLION June 11, 1997
RIVERFRONT SITE BETTER BET June 6, 1997
BROADWAY, 'WEDGE' ONLY OPTIONS LEFT? June 4, 1997
REDS RELENT ON WEST SITE June 3, 1997
NOTHING WILL DISLODGE REDS FROM RIVERFRONT Tim Sullivan column, June 3, 1997
REDS TO KENTUCKY? WHISPERS PERSIST May 31, 1997
NO DEAL WITH REDS SEEN BY JUNE 1 May 23, 1997
REDS EASE STANCE ON 'WEDGE' May 16, 1997
REDS MIGHT HAVE TO WAITMay 5, 1997
COSTS GOING UPMay 5, 1997
SCHOTT SAYS 'NO WAY' TO WEDGE April 12, 1997
SULLIVAN COLUMN April 12, 1997
CITY COULD PAY TO DELAY STADIUM April 10, 1997
BENGALS LEERY OF 'WEDGE' April 9, 1997
THE GREAT STADIUM DEBATE
BALLPARK DEBATE LINGERS ON April 6, 1997
NEIGHBORHOOD A BIG PART OF BALLPARK April 6, 1997
BALLPARK, FANS' HONEYMOON SHORT April 6, 1997
REDS HAVE HURDLES, HELP IN SITE HUNT April 6, 1997
KENTUCKY DESERVES REDS, TOOApril 6, 1997
BORGMAN CARTOON
April 6, 1997
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
