It will take nearly twice as long for Cinergy Field to fall — 38 seconds versus 20 seconds — if contractors use plastic explosives to bring down the 32-year-old stadium.

        That's because of a change in the plan to implode Cinergy Field, which was outlined in a new report to Hamilton County construction managers.

        If implosion is selected over a wrecking ball, the stadium will collapse the morning of Dec. 29.

        Instead of simultaneously igniting two sets of explosives on each end of the stadium's opening until they meet in the middle, demolition experts now want to start the explosions in the northwest corner of the stadium and set off the one-pound charges of nitroglycerin in a counter-clockwise rotation to reduce the amount of vibration caused by tons of steel and concrete hitting the ground.

        “We would like to stretch it out so we only have one section hitting the ground at a time,” said Steven Pettigrew, a chief explosives engineer who would be in charge of detonating the charges.

        A final decision on whether to implode the stadium was to be made by this weekend. That might be pushed back because the county wants some additional information that wasn't in the report. Namely:

        An analysis of the risk to surrounding properties.

        • The status of getting the necessary explosive permits.

        • A demolition schedule that assumes the Reds will be in the World Series.

        • Street closure schedules.

        • Staging areas.

        Mike Sieving, Hamilton County's construction project executive, said they have found nothing so far that would rule out implosion.

        “It is our opinion that implosion is feasible,” Project Manager Arnie Rosenberg said. “The contractor now has to demonstrate that there are no roadblocks.”

        Mr. Sieving and other construction managers will conduct a series of meetings over the next few weeks with city officials, property owners near Cinergy Field, Department of Transportation officials and utility companies to discuss the possibility of implosion.

        “We need to be able to answer their questions,” Mr. Sieving said. “At this point, we don't feel that we've got all the information. We're not going to make a decision until we have all the information.”

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