In a nod to the Cincinnati Reds' desire for a new riverfront ballpark, Hamilton County officials have offered the team a new, detailed proposal for a stadium on the so-called ''Wedge'' site.
But the county also says building a stadium between Cinergy Field and the Crown coliseum is ''the most difficult option'' and urges the team to reconsider Broadway Commons and refurbishing the existing stadium.
In its first formal communication to the team in months, the county on March 18 said it was prepared to work with the team on a new Wedge site ballpark. But officials cautioned that delays in the city's Fort Washington Way overhaul and ''somewhat thorny parking issues'' make the Wedge site the trickiest of the three options.
While the latest proposals from the Reds and the county both focus on the riverfront site next to the Crown known as Baseball on Main or ''The Wedge,'' that doesn't mean the other options are off the table, county officials say.
''If Baseball on Main is the option that makes the most sense, here are the terms and conditions for Baseball on Main that make sense for the county,'' Hamilton County Commission President Tom Neyer Jr. said of the county's proposal. ''But under no circumstances does that mean that there aren't other terms and conditions that make sense for the other options.''
The Reds' proposal and county's counterproposal, obtained Tuesday by the Enquirer through an Ohio public records request, have fewer major differences than previous drafts, making both sides optimistic a deal is close.
The documents offer the first substantive information on the talks since September and show how close the sides are to a preliminary agreement after two years of on-and-off negotiations.
Highlights include:
- The Reds no longer request $33.6 million in guaranteed revenues during the middle years of a 30-year lease with the team. That appears to have been a major sticking point in previous proposals.
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The Reds no longer demand late fees of at least $300,000 per game if the new ballpark isn't finished by the 2002 season.
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The Reds want a clause that assures them they don't have to sign a deal if a feasibility study of the Wedge site doesn't meet their specifications. The county's proposal is vague in that regard.
- The Reds continue to offer $2.5 million per year in rent for the first eight years of a 30-year deal, while the county wants the team to pay $2.5 million per year in rent for the first 10 years.
- The county wants the Reds to make its $30 million contribution to the project before construction begins. The Reds offer a $30 million contribution but don't offer to pay it up front.
- The county agrees to put $500,000 a year in a reserve fund for operating and maintenance expenses in the new ballpark. The team wants that yearly deposit to grow 6 percent annually.
- The county and Reds commit to a $235 million ballpark in 1998 dollars. In previous proposals, the Reds have pegged the $235 million cost to 2000.
Reds Managing Executive John Allen could not be reached for comment on the documents Tuesday. He said Monday, however, that a stadium deal could come together in the next 30 days.
County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus said Tuesday reaching a preliminary agreement in the next month isn't out of the question, but there's no deadline.
''It appears that we're moving toward the final stages of our discussions surrounding the Memorandum of Understanding,'' he said. ''How long that takes, who knows.''
Mr. Bedinghaus, who prefers a riverfront site, said the fact that the county included a pitch for Broadway Commons proves what the county has been saying all along: that all options are on the table for the Reds to consider.
In the March 18 letter, county attorney Louis Cohen wrote that the county ''still believes that a 'transformed' Cinergy Field project can work and would achieve a comparable result for less money.'' He wrote that the site is guaranteed to be available and requires ''less dependence on city cooperation and completion of the Fort Washington Way project'' to work.
Timing is on the side of Broadway Commons, he wrote, stressing that ''the best way to insure that the team will be returned to financial health is an early commencement of play in a new facility.''
''Selection of Broadway Commons would accelerate stadium completion by at least one year and possibly more,'' he wrote.
The letter continues: ''While construction of a new facility at Broadway Commons would be more expensive than a 'transformed' Cinergy Field, this site has few complications and work could begin immediately after design completion without waiting for Fort Washington Way or for the cessation of football at Cinergy.''
Mr. Allen has good reason to get a quick deal. The club says it lost $49 million from 1994-1996, and estimates have the Reds losing $59.2 million in operating costs since they won the 1990 World Series - for the highest deficit of any of the 113 major-league sports teams.
Mr. Allen, running the team in place of the suspended Marge Schott, responded by cutting the 1997 payroll of $36.9 million to between $24 million and $25 million for this season. He said last month if the Reds hit projected revenues, 1998 should be the last season of budget cuts.
Still, the Reds have never formally expressed a willingness to consider a ballpark at Broadway. Mrs. Schott has voiced concerns about the site's proximity to the county jail.
While Mr. Allen couldn't be reached Tuesday to say whether the county's recent letter might change the team's mind, his latest letter to the county shows clearly the team is willing to give in order to get a deal.
By eliminating previous requests for late payments and $33.6 million in guaranteed revenues, the team gave up elements of the deal that the Reds have said are simply comparable to the football deal the county gave the Cincinnati Bengals.
''We have made what we feel are major concessions as compared to our last proposal for a new stadium,'' Mr. Allen wrote to Mr. Cohen. ''We are confident you will find these modifications are responsive to issues you have raised in past negotiations.''
A source close to the negotiations said the club has shown its willingness to make a deal on ''The Wedge'' by accepting ''at best an average baseball deal and nowhere near what the county gave the Bengals.''
The county views its proposal differently. Mr. Cohen's letter calls it ''one of the best offers made for new baseball facilities in the '90s.''
The county's rejection of the September proposal from the Reds, which included the guaranteed payments and late fees, triggered an impasse in negotiations. On Oct. 7, Mr. Allen held a press conference threatening to move out of Hamilton County but promising to stay in the Cincinnati market.
Then in November, Mrs. Schott announced the team might be willing to settle for an extensive renovation of Cinergy instead of a new ballpark. Talks centered on a transformed Cinergy for several months, but the team reportedly became worried that a renovation might not generate as much additional revenue for the team as a new ballpark. The team needs those revenues to stay healthy long-term, it argues.
The major hangup appears to be over the county's annual contribution to operation and maintenance. The county wants to set it at $500,000 per year. The Reds are looking for a clause that would increase that amount by 6 percent each year. So the first contribution would be $500,000, the second would be 6 percent higher, the third would be 6 percent higher than the second and so on.
''There are still a lot of unanswered questions,'' the source said. ''We still don't know if the site can work and when a stadium could be ready.''
Indeed, the county proposal said officials will try to have a new ballpark on the Wedge site complete by 2002. That timeline could be hurt by any delays in the city's overhaul of Fort Washington Way.
The Wedge site also requires more cooperation from the city of Cincinnati because the county likely would have to get access from the city to land freed up by the $146.9 million Fort Washington Way overhaul.
Negotiations between the city and county over land for the Bengals stadium became a key sticking point and nearly killed that deal.
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