Friday, April 28, 2000

Bengals sue to manage stadium

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By Dan Klepal
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        The Cincinnati Bengals made good Thursday on their threat to sue Hamilton County over the right to manage the daily, year-round operations at Paul Brown Stadium.

Stadium cam

        Bengals officials claim the lease signed with the county in 1997 guarantees the team's right to manage the $450 million complex.

        The lawsuit asks a judge to force Hamilton County to hire the Bengals' company, Paul Brown Stadium Ltd., to manage the stadium.

        Team attorney W. Stuart Dornette sent a threatening letter to county officials April 11, after they accepted bids from three companies vying to manage the facility. One of those companies was PBSL, created for the sole purpose of managing the stadium.

        Stadium management includes just about everything associated with upkeep of the building, such as painting, groundskeeping, security, cleaning carpets and snow removal.

Workers apply yard lines to one of the new practice fields adjacent to Paul Brown Stadium. The team will hold minicamp there this weekend. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        County officials say the Bengals gave up their guarantee to manage the stadium when the team refused to go through a public bidding process in hiring staff and in buying equipment.

        Because the team would be running the stadium for county government, the county believes the team is required by law to make purchases only after evaluating public bids.

        “The bottom line is state law requires it,” Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen said. “It's very clear those things need to be competitively bid and the county commissioners are under legal obligation to make sure that happens.”

        Bengals officials declined to comment on the lawsuit. But the complaint says that there is an exception to the public bidding process for management of sports facilities.

        “The General Assembly recognized that a professional sports facility to be leased and occupied by a major league professional sports franchise is a unique situation, where the competitive bidding law has no application,” the lawsuit states.

        Bob Bedinghaus, president of the Hamilton County Commission, said the Bengals and lawsuits go hand-in-hand.

        “The unfortunate reality of dealing with the Bengals is dealing with their lawsuits,” Mr. Bedinghaus said. “The city put up with it for 20 or so years.

        “It appears we're going to be stuck with that same kind of attitude going forward.”

        The county says the Bengals still can manage Paul Brown Stadium, if the team goes through a public bidding process when it comes to buying equipment, hiring staff or companies to provide services such as security.

        Bengals officials say they can manage the stadium best and cheapest because they are not charging a management fee, and they have a vested interest in keeping the stadium a top-notch facility.

        It was always assumed the Bengals would run the year-round, day-to-day operations at Paul Brown Stadium. An interim agreement was reached in July, and the two sides started negotiating a long-term deal.

        But they started bickering when the Bengals refused to go through the public process when making several hires. The county is withholding more than $21,000 from the Bengals for salaries and equipment the team purchased without accepting bids.

        In March, the county issued an invitation to bid for the stadium management job and three companies responded — including PBSL. All three bids were thrown out because county officials said each was deficient in some way.

        Now the county is in the process of accepting new bids — a move the Bengals are trying to stop with their lawsuit.

        There is a hearing at 10 a.m. today before Common Please Court Judge John O'Connor regarding the Bengals' request for a temporary restraining order against the county.

       

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