1996
March 19: Hamilton County voters approve a half-cent sales-tax increase to fund stadium construction for the Bengals and Reds and provide property-tax relief.
Aug. 9: John Allen is named managing executive of the Reds for the remainder of Reds CEO Marge Schott's suspension.
Sept. 10: Hamilton County and Bengals announce agreement to build a stadium by Aug. 1, 2000. The agreement sets in motion finding an architect, assigns revenues and responsibilities but doesn't name a location.
Dec. 11: Mr. Allen says keeping the Reds in renovated Cinergy Field would be like giving fans ''a used car.''
1997
Feb. 13: Hamilton County and Bengals announce new stadium will be on the riverfront between Central Avenue and Elm Street with practice fields just west of the stadium.
May 1: Cincinnati and Hamilton County reach agreement on the refined site for the Bengals stadium, calming city concerns that the stadium and plaza would consume most of the central riverfront.
May 29: Hamilton County and Bengals sign a lease to build Paul Brown Stadium on the riverfront and keep the team in town until 2026.
July 3: Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls rips Hamilton County's lease with the Bengals, saying the county gave away the city's riverfront.
July 29: Reds have posted estimated operating losses of an estimated $59.2 million since 1990, biggest loss of any major league baseball, football, basketball or hockey team.
Aug. 28: County Commissioner John Dowlin asks National League President Leonard S. Coleman Jr. to intervene in the county's stadium negotiations with the Reds. He declines.
Sept. 4: Hamilton County officials tell bond-rating agencies in New York they expect to spend $400.3 million to build the Bengals stadium complex. That price includes land, demolition and other costs that had not been included in previous estimates.
Sept. 10: Indiana & Ohio Railroad lays claim to riverfront railroad tracks that run through the site of the Bengals stadium complex.
Sept. 23: City Manager John Shirey urges city council not to transfer 12.5 acres of riverfront property the county needs for the stadium until the city and county reach a riverfront development deal.
Sept. 24: City Council endorses a ballpark at Broadway Commons, at Broadway and Reading Road.
Oct. 6: Reds Managing Executive John Allen announces Reds will consider offers to locate elsewhere in Greater Cincinnati.
Nov. 9: Reds CEO Marge Schott says she'll consider keeping team in a renovated Cinergy Field.
Nov. 26: Hamilton County agrees to pay about $36 million for 24 acres of riverfront land owned by the Castellini Family Trust, the largest private landowner on the riverfront.
Dec. 2: Striving to resolve a series of issues in one fell swoop, City Manager John Shirey proposes a detailed city-county agreement for developing the city's central riverfront and the new Bengals stadium.
Dec. 26: Bengals President Mike Brown accuses the city of not living up to its word and defends his stadium deal with county in a letter sent to business leaders and elected officials.
Dec. 29: Mr. Brown says if city and county don't resolve their differences by Jan. 31, he'll kill the stadium deal.
Dec. 30: Reds Managing Executive John Allen says the team is focusing on a plan to transform Cinergy Field in its talks with Hamilton County.
1998
Jan. 6: Hamilton County commissioners decide to issue more than $71 million in bonds for the $400.3 million Bengals stadium project.
Jan. 6: Cleveland Mayor Michael R. White says Cleveland wants an expansion team to play in the city's new stadium, not the Bengals, if the Cincinnati stadium deal collapses.
Jan. 7: County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus says he favors a riverfront site for a Reds stadium and expects the county to have a deal with the Reds for a new ballpark by Opening Day.
Jan. 16: City Manager John Shirey says the Bengals' Jan. 31 stadium deadline doesn't apply to the city, although he thinks the city and county will make the deadline.
Jan. 22: Negotiations between Cincinnati and Hamilton County go into tailspin after City Manager John Shirey presents council with a riverfront development deal the county says it hadn't agreed to.
Jan. 29: A marathon meeting at the offices of Kroger Co. Chairman and CEO Joseph A. Pichler between the city, county and team results in consensus on major issues.
Jan. 30: Negotiators for county, city and Bengals reach agreement in principle on deal to transfer city property.
- Lucy May
One down, Reds to go
Still some loose ends
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