Two years ago, the voters of Hamilton County expressed landslide approval for using a public investment in stadium facilities to jump start a renovation of our community. They voted by 61 percent to 39 percent for a measure not just about stadiums, but about a vision for a dynamic downtown and riverfront. Today we stand on the threshold of claiming that vision, but there are still those who would deny the community that victory. To make sure the community wins, we need the help of clear-thinking citizens who want this project to move forward.
In May of this year, we signed a lease with Hamilton County that called for construction of the Paul Brown Stadium and ensured that the Cincinnati Bengals would remain in this community for the next 30 years. The Paul Brown Stadium lease has since been discussed considerably, recently as the subject of attempted humor and vigorous attacks. Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls even went so far as to claim that ''some people are saying this is the worst deal ever entered into by any government with a private entity in the history of this country.'' Such a statement is uninformed and wrong. I would ask that you consider the following facts:
An independent analysis confirmed the lease was comparable to other cities' NFL stadium agreements. On Sept. 12, 1996, the Enquirer published an in-depth analysis comparing the principal features of each of the last seven NFL leases with public bodies like Hamilton County. The comparison confirmed exactly what the article's headline reflected: ''Teams stadium pact in middle of NFL's pack.'' Since September 1996, the contract has gotten even better for Hamilton County. The Bengals' commitment, cited at the outset as $25 to $29 million, already has reached $31 million and could grow as high as $36 million.
Revenue to Hamilton County is higher than in other NFL deals. The Enquirer report actually understates the extent to which the Paul Brown Stadium lease is favorable to the county and its taxpayers. This is because more of the dollars the Bengals are contributing are being paid up front, as opposed to being spread out evenly over the life of the lease. Anyone who understands inflation can appreciate that a dollar paid in 2000 is worth a lot more than a dollar paid in 2020. Therefore, if we compare the present value of the stream of team owner payments to the public authority over life of the Bengals lease for Paul Brown Stadium, then our Lease provides Hamilton County with the second highest level of payments to the public authority of any of the last seven NFL stadium contracts:
- Cincinnati Bengals - $44 million to $50 million.
- Tampa Day Buccaneers - $49 million.
- Nashville Oilers - $42 million.
- Cleveland Browns - $28 million.
- Jacksonville Jaguars - $23 million.
- Baltimore Ravens - $11 million.
- St. Louis Rams - $4 million.
At the bottom of that list are Baltimore and St. Louis, Each lost an NFL franchise; each paid heavily to get a franchise back. Not only are their publicly financed stadiums getting very little in payments from the NFL team, but in each case the NFL team received tens of millions of dollars in order to make the move - dollars that do not show up in the chart above.
Hamilton County's stadium project is a catalyst for much more that is happening to transform our riverfront. In March 1996, 61 percent of us voted for a vision that is on the verge of coming to pass. The sales tax campaign was about more than stadiums, and that is a major reason costs have risen. More than 15 percent of the project budget goes to buy and insure there is publicly owned land along the riverfront - land that will be used for riverfront parks, restaurants, shops, roads, walkways, bikeways, public plazas and promenades. Other dollars are paying for roads, plazas and walkways which will, for the first time in decades, let people walk from downtown Cincinnati all the way to the Ohio River. Still more dollars will go for parking - parking that is and will continue to be used every working day of the week by thousands of downtown office workers.
The cost of the new stadium is appropriate for an NFL stadium opening in 2000. If you strip out from the $400 million project budget all of those other items and ask what is the football stadium itself costing, the answer is about $270 million. That is a large sum of money, but it is exactly in line with other NFL stadiums being constructed all across the country - once you take into account when the stadium is opening and the unique fact that Cincinnati's riverfront requires construction of a flood wall.
- Cleveland Browns - $282 million.
- Carolina Panthers - $271 million.
- Cincinnati Bengals - $270 million.
- Baltimore Ravens - $268 million.
When you look at the facts, you quickly see that this is a responsible deal for Hamilton County and its citizens.
As a result of the stadium project and related development, we are about to capture exactly the vision for which people voted last year, including a dramatically transformed riverfront with a football stadium whose design has been heralded by all those who have seen it and publicly owned land at the city's front door for parks and people. We can boldly go forward and seize that vision. Or, we can let progress and the future slip between our fingers as one government insists upon bickering with other governments to gain some sort of upper hand.
The city of Cincinnati owns the land upon which Paul Brown Stadium is to be built. Last February, the city insisted that the stadium be placed exactly on its property. More than two years ago, the city promised to Hamilton County that it would fully cooperate in the transfer of whatever land it owned that was necessary for the stadiums. To date, the city has refused to live up to its word. The time has come for us to move forward as a community.
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