As baseball fades to football this weekend in Cincinnati, the Bengals open their season with high expectations and the added excitement of a new stadium set to rise on the riverfront in 2000.
The Reds, by comparison, slog into the last four weeks of their season out of contention and mired in seemingly endless talks about Cincinnati's other stadium deal.
And if that weren't enough, Deion has left for Dallas.
For fans beginning to ask themselves, ''What's the holdup?'' the better question is, ''What's the hurry?''
Truth is, there's no need to rush a deal with the Reds.
Rapid closure on the Bengals package was driven by the team's threat to leave town and a deadline built into the financing.
No such gun to the head exists, so far, with the Reds negotiations.
Several major elements must fall into place before a stadium deal between Hamilton County and the Reds can be signed: Location. Cooperation. Leadership.
All of this will take time.
Location has dominated discussions of a new home for professional baseball's oldest team. Two sites are contenders.
If yard signs are any indication, lots of people support Broadway Commons, a site at the foot of Mount Adams at the corner of Broadway and Reading Road. More than a dozen local organizations have also endorsed the site. Supporters say a stadium there would help revive a struggling section of town.
The other possibility is a riverfront site between Cinergy Field and Riverfront Coliseum, known as Baseball on Main or ''The Wedge.''
The Reds want to be on the river, and Hamilton County Commission President Bob Bedinghaus has said the county won't force the Reds to a location they don't like. So the riverfront location appears to have the edge.
But selecting either site raises new questions and problems.
If the riverfront site is chosen:
- Work can't begin until 2000 - after the Bengals leave Cinergy Field.
- Part of Cinergy's parking deck would have to be demolished to build a ballpark. The Bengals won't sign off on that until they're comfortably established in the new Paul Brown Stadium a few blocks west.
- The Reds want proof that a ballpark will fit there. A draft agreement submitted to county officials by the Reds in June requires the county to complete a detailed study of the site. The team has indicated a favorable report would seal the deal.
- Fort Washington Way is due for major reconstruction and is supposed to be ready in time for the opening of the Bengals stadium. To build the Reds park, the county would need land that would be cleared by the narrowing of Fort Washington Way.
If Broadway Commons were to win, construction could begin sooner there. But a complicated sewer system below the site could cause problems. Opponents of the site also have said major roadwork would be needed.
Reds stadium talks have been complicated by politics and personalities of the negotiators.
County officials complain that they've thought several times the deal was almost sealed, only to have the Reds' negotiators change and the agreement fall apart.
The only constant in negotiations has been Reds Managing Executive John Allen. Sometimes he shows up at meetings with ''his people.'' Sometimes he shows up with hers - meaning those of suspended owner Marge Schott.
The commissioners are getting antsy.
Commissioner John Dowlin, the lone Broadway Commons booster, recently fired off a letter to National League President Leonard Coleman, pleading with him to intervene.
As far as Mr. Dowlin is concerned, Broadway is the logical choice. It's better for taxpayers, he says, because it would save millions over a riverfront location. It's better for baseball because the Reds could move in and make much more money sooner.
Mr. Bedinghaus, the county's lead voice on stadium issues, proposed and sold the plan to increase the county's sales tax by a half-cent to pay for both new stadiums.
His success has translated into political capital. Mr. Bedinghaus is frequently mentioned as a potential statewide political candidate. That could impose considerable pressure to make a deal.
Mr. Bedinghaus insists no political race could pressure him to rush any important county decision.
The third commissioner, newly appointed Tom Neyer Jr., who represents the potential swing vote in the final stadium decision, has not indicated a preference. He says he just wants to complete a deal so the county can move on.
When it comes to personalities, perhaps the biggest unknown in the whole equation is Mrs. Schott.
The team is hemorrhaging money. The club has suffered operating losses of $59.2 million since 1990.
Standard business practices would dictate Mrs. Schott must seriously consider selling the team. Rumors persist that she's listening to the occasional suitor, but nobody will say for sure whether she's decided to sell.
Mrs. Schott's limited partners have first dibs on the purchase. Cincinnati business magnate Carl Lindner, who has steadfastly stood by Mrs. Schott, is among them.
If the team changes hands, county officials say, all bets are off.
That could be good news if a new owner is interested in closing the stadium talks quickly.
Or it could mean starting all over again on a Reds deal even as the Bengals move closer to that first game in the team's new, futuristic football palace.
REDS PAGE
Previous stadium stories
DOWLIN ASKS FOR NL'S HELP ON STADIUM August 29, 1997
ALLEN VISITS ATLANTA SEEKING STADIUM IDEAS August 23, 1997
BIG STADIUM ROADBLOCK REMOVED July 25, 1997
STADIUM SIDES DEFINED July 11, 1997
STADIUM STANCES July 11, 1997
STADIUM MEETING TONE UPBEAT July 11, 1997
REDS PLAY DOWN SEAT LICENSES July 9, 1997
REDS CALL FOR SEAT LICENSES, RIVERFRONT SITE July 8, 1997
HIGHLIGHTS OF REDS' PROPOSAL July 8, 1997
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
