BY HOWARD WILKINSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Broadway Commons supporters have hit the airwaves first with a TV ad that evokes nostalgic baseball images and argues a Reds ballpark can be built there "cheaper and sooner" than on the riverfront.
Supporters of a riverfront site for a Reds stadium, who plan to have their own TV ad campaign on the air by the end of the week, say the claims in the Broadway Commons ad would have been true two years ago, but not today.
The 30-second Broadway Commons spot, which begins airing on Cincinnati TV stations this afternoon, is aimed at boosting Issue 11. Passage would create a county charter to force Hamilton County commissioners to build any new ballpark at Broadway and Reading Road downtown.
Two of three commissioners have voted to enter into a preliminary agreement with the Reds to build at a riverfront site known as Baseball on Main or "The Wedge." It would be between the Crown arena and Cinergy Field, which would be demolished.
The Broadway Commons ad begins with a photograph of Crosley Field, the old West End ballpark the Reds played in until 1970. It is laced with film and still pictures of Reds' teams from the 1940s, '50s and 60s.
"Think back, look ahead," an announcer says. "Broadway is better for baseball, for everybody."
The ad says Hamilton County taxpayers will "get more and pay less" if the park is built at Broadway. "We can enjoy a finished Broadway Commons sooner," the announcer says.
County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus, a supporter of the riverfront location, said the argument that a Broadway Commons ballpark would be less costly and accomplished sooner "might have been true two years ago, but that's just not the case anymore."
He said if the commissioners were forced to work out an agreement with the Reds to build at Broadway, "it would eat up months."
The county would have to negotiate acquisition prices with at least four property owners, "which would delay it even further," he said. "There's just no way it could be done sooner at Broadway."
Melissa Rottinghaus, spokeswoman for the Baseball on Broadway campaign, said Mr. Bedinghaus is "dead wrong" when he says the ballpark could be built sooner at the riverfront site.
"It is a fact that nothing could be done until the Bengals stadium is absolutely finished and until the Fort Washington Way project is absolutely finished," she said. Both projects are scheduled to be completed in August 2000.
The Baseball on Broadway campaign committee spent nearly $100,000 on its TV advertising buy.
Ms. Rottinghaus said it is probably the only ad buy the campaign will make.
The pro-riverfront campaign committee is expected to spend more on its TV ad campaign, which is set to begin Friday.
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