Despite Hamilton County's pitch to the Reds for a cheaper, transformed Cinergy Field or a quicker opening in a new park at Broadway Commons, the club said Thursday it favors playing in the so-called ''Wedge'' site.
''We're still very focused on the riverfront,'' said Reds Managing Executive John Allen, responding to the county's March 18 letter pushing the other options. ''I think they were just reminding us what's out there.''
Mr. Allen, negotiating a deal with the county for a new park, acknowledged the construction challenges of The Wedge, also called Baseball on Main, between Cinergy Field and The Crown.
Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus said the site could be ready for the Reds to open the 2002 season once construction begins after the final game of the Bengals' 1999 season.
''You'd have to get the experts, but it's a possibility,'' Mr. Bedinghaus said. ''It's a 24- to 27-months job, even with these challenges.''
Mr. Allen also wants more advice from experts, particularly the effect of demolishing part of the Cinergy bowl housing seats in left field and left-center field while the team is still playing there. Cinergy would be razed once the new park is playable.
''I'm not a technical expert, but I've been told this can be done and I hope it can be done. We'll see,'' Mr. Allen said. ''There would be the same kind of problems with a transformation. It's a neat concept when Cinergy comes down. The models look great.''
The Reds have been told between 3,000 and 6,000 seats would have to come out of left field, leaving 46,000 to 49,000, more than in the new park.
John Schneider, a Baseball on Main proponent, has even raised the idea of moving the new park a little east so parts of Cinergy Field wouldn't be destroyed. But that would interfere with Broadway traffic.
''Streets were re-routed when they built Cinergy,'' said architect Michael Schuster, who has worked with Mr. Schneider to develop a Baseball on Main plan. ''There is still in-depth study that has to be done, but we're not talking about building the Suez Canal here. Smart people can get things done.''
Mr. Allen is enthused about the possibility of putting a Reds' hall of fame or museum or both on the Cinergy site, where Pete Rose hadhis record-breaking hit.
''Wouldn't it be something if you could somehow tie in 4,192 and put the hall of fame or something on that spot?'' asked Mr. Allen of Cinergy's shallow left-center field, site of Mr. Rose's single that made him baseball's all-time hit king in 1985.
The Reds and the county also appear close to deciding on how to analyze the site. If the team wants to get out of the deal, it can simply not sign a lease, Mr. Bedinghaus said.
''To refer to a feasibility study underestimates both sides' commitment to the site,'' he said.
Mr. Allen said that issue appears to be terminology.
''It's not a done deal by any stretch,'' Mr. Allen said. ''There are still outstanding economic and non-economic issues. I'm cautiously optimistic, but it's not done.''
A half-cent sales tax increase passed in 1996 will pay for a new Reds stadium and a new home for the Bengals. The Bengals stadium, on the riverfront between Central Avenue and Elm Street, is expected to be ready by August 2000.
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