By Joy Kraft
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        Of the 114 parcels of party-suite real estate at Paul Brown Stadium, only 10 are unoccupied. Though the price for a place to watch a football game may seem steep to most of us wrestling with mortgage payments, from the luxury suite owners' viewpoint, it's good business.

Each suite has 17 feet of windows that can be retracted out of sight. (Michael E. Keating photos) | ZOOM |

The United Dairy Farmers suite includes a freezer stocked with ice cream and sundae toppings. | ZOOM |

Suites have counters to set up buffets and many display sports memorabilia. | ZOOM |

        “It pays for itself. It's a good investment,” says Lanny Holbrook, president of Heritage Management, who shares two of the stadium's 17-by-36-foot suites and has four regular seats as well.

        Hosting a Bengals game party in a private box “takes time and energy to organize,” says Joe Fredrick, sports marketing manager for Clear Channel of Cincinnati, who is in charge of rationing suite tickets for the radio station giant. “But done right, it's the best four hours of sports experience you can have.”

        Clear Channel, like most stadium suite-holders, uses the box to court business..

        “We use it for Clear Channel sports clients, especially those who sponsor the Bengals' broadcast,” Mr. Fredrick says.

        “We package them (suite tickets) in our deals. We want to give them an experience they won't get anywhere else — a lasting impression, a memorable event.”

        The Clear Channel suite's walls display framed jerseys of Bengals players who have worked for the company, including Boomer Esiason, Chris Collinsworth and Anthony Munoz.

        “Those guys mean a lot to us. That's why we went that route,” Mr. Fredrick says.

        The framed jerseys hang along with a gift to all suite-holders from Mike Brown — a framed, numbered print of John Ruthven's “Jungle Tiger.'' Each suite owner also received an additional print.

Non-sport themes

        Other suite-holders have chosen non-sport themes to cozy up their spaces.

SUITE FACTS

• There are 114 party suites, with 10 not leased. All have access to the large Club Lounge and four smaller overlook bars with televisions and food service. There are 16 tickets per suite with an option to buy four more per game.   • The suites are on three levels: Plaza — the main level, Club — the middle level, and Bengals — the top level.   • Suites are priced according to their location and number of years leased, ranging from 50-yard-line suites, $140,000 per season on a six-year lease, to goal-line suites for $45,000 per season for an eight- to 10-year lease.   • Mike Brown's suite is on the 50-yard line on the west side, and the visiting owner's suite is on the 45-yard line on the east side.   • There are five party suites (on the ends on the Club and Bengals levels) rented on a per-game basis for $10,000. Each accommodates 25-32 guests. Information: 455-4800.   • Food and beverage service is handled by Aramark at the suite-holders' request. Choices range from hot dogs to Cajun gumbo to garlic herb-encrusted tenderloin and from beers to tequila and wine.

        Michael Baumgardner, president of Burke Inc., searched through historical photos of Cincinnati scenes from the Vintage Poster Bank on Main Street and framed 10 to cover a wall above two upholstered easy chairs. In the bathroom hang two vintage advertising posters, also from the Poster Bank.

        Mr. Holbrook took the tiger theme and ran with it throughout his shared suite, using the Mike Brown gift-print plus two more tigers, one in a beautifully gilded frame centered above two easy chairs.

        “I saw the print three years before the stadium opened,” he says. “I had committed on a suite and just held on to it.”

        The United Dairy Farmers' suite includes a classic Kelvinator ice cream freezer stocked with Homemade Brand ice cream and sundae toppings for guests.

        Each suite-holder was given a choice of two color schemes that included patterned upholstery and carpeting in a royal purple or a “rustic Bengals” orange that is a soft terra cotta rather that the garish Halloween color.

        “Seventy-five percent of the suite-holders chose the dark purple,” says G. Jeffrey Berding, director of sales and public affairs for the Bengals.

        The basic suite design includes a tiled kitchen area and three-seat mini-bar beside it, two lounge chairs and a telephone/cocktail table, a buffet along one wall with football-shaped lights, a four-seat high bar facing the field behind 12 leather stadium-style seats with drink and food rests, sitting on two levels .

        One of the stadium-style seats can be removed to make room for a wheelchair, and another has collapsible arms for access for the disabled.

        Wall-to-wall carpeting in two color tones carries out the theme, along with Bengal tigers leaping on the fabric backs of each bar chair.

        “Many suites in other stadiums have open areas,” says Mr. Berding, “but no place to put your food or a drink. It's hard to eat holding a drink and a plate. Our suites take those little things into consideration. You won't see that curved table by the kitchen at other stadiums.”

Retractable windows

        Field access was a big part of the design process. The 17 feet of windows across the front of each box not only open, they retract, out of sight, making a 90-degree turn to slide back along the sides of the box.

The kitchen has a tile floor and three-seat minibar. | ZOOM |

Ten photos of Cincinnati scenes are displayed in the Burke Inc. suite. | ZOOM |

        The architects, NBBJ of Marina Del Rey, Calif., “worked hand-in-hand” with Waltek and Co. in Sharonville, according to Paul Becker, project manager for NBBJ.

        “They essentially engineered a new window system for this project. We were trying to minimize the obstructions and keep the framery as small as possible, lightweight and easy to operate.”

        “We particularly like the windows,” says Mr. Fredrick. “A lot of NFL suite windows open, but they are still in the way. We like the open-air box feel — unless it's freezing cold.”

        “We were looking for a sense of spaciousness,” says Paul Davis, NBBJ project designer.

        “The ergonomic sense has to do with optimizing the view of the field but giving it that cushy feeling.”

        Mr. Davis and the interior designers “played off the Bengals, the jungle theme. We tried to warm up the palate with woods, a bit of the jungle,” Mr. Davis says.

Chair backs display the Bengals logo. | ZOOM |

Luxury bopxes provide access to the Club level lounge. | ZOOM |

        The choice of the light-toned wood used on stadium furniture and trim — it is Anigre, an African wood — also was based on the theme. It lends a contemporary feel while meshing with the overall stadium design.

        “We tried to keep the interiors sleek and elegant, not too overwrought,” Mr. Davis says.

        “We knew the fans would provide the splash. We didn't want to make things too gaudy. That would compete with the game.”

        The luxe results put the luxury suites at the top of the NFL pile.

        “I was in Pittsburgh,” says Mr. Fredrick, “and I didn't find their (stadium) as nice. The convenience (of Paul Brown Stadium) — for guests, getting in and out, the architecture, the makeup of the stadium — is much more conducive to the NFL, and the amenities at Paul Brown Stadium are state-of-the-art. And most suites in the NFL don't have as many seats. We get 20. Plus two TVs for instant replays and highlights from other games.”

        “Paul Brown Stadium is state of the art,” says Mr. Holbrook, who has bought luxury suites in the Reds' new Great American Ballpark as well. “But I don't see how they can be as nice. I hope they are, but . . . ”

        “It's one of the most enjoyable atmospheres you can have,” Mr. Fredrick says.

        For guests “it's an escape for the week,” he says. “Coming here takes them out of the real world. Demand for our (suite) is at an all-time high.

        “I've been to most NFL cities, and Paul Brown Stadium is as good as it gets.”

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