A national television contract with Black Entertainment Television has yielded bigger advertising contracts with giants such as Microsoft and Budweiser for the Ohio Classic black-college football game.

The event, which left Cincinnati for Cleveland this year, already has commitments for about $400,000 in corporate sponsorships, which is ahead of this time last year and should enable it to break even, president John Pace said.

That figure doesn't include about $300,000 from Procter & Gamble Co., the lead sponsor.

This year's game, scheduled for Sept. 20 in Cleveland Browns Stadium, will pit Tuskegee and Hampton universities. So far, about 15,000 tickets have been sold, about half of Pace's goal.

He still thinks that the game will move back to Cincinnati in 2004, after moving north this year because it couldn't get access to Paul Brown Stadium because of a Bengals game that weekend.

Pace already is talking with the Browns, Bengals and the National Football League about designating the third Saturday in September in those stadiums every other year for the Ohio Classic game.

"We believe the ambiance the classic needs can only be offered in an NFL stadium," he said. "It certainly would work, but we have to get it done."

A fresh-cut business

Chiquita Brands International Inc. didn't make a big deal out of its newest business venture last week, slipping it quietly into a quarterly investor conference call. But the expansion into fresh-cut fruit gives the banana company a whack at a market that is $1 billion and growing.

Chiquita now sells only whole fruit, including grapes and melons, in addition to its signature bananas.

It's starting work on a plant in the Chicago area that will serve the Midwest.

Fresh-cut fruit bearing the Chiquita label could start appearing on store shelves in those markets, including the Tristate, this fall.

School owner to settle

Owners of the now-closed Culinary Sol cooking school have reached a preliminary deal to settle a lawsuit against Procter & Gamble Co., but most likely won't reopen the store in the Rookwood Commons location.

That's the word from John Cobey, lawyer for store owner Amy Tobin. He wouldn't reveal any details about the settlement.

P&G opened Culinary Sol in 2001 and sold it to Tobin in 2002. Early this year, P&G sued her for unpaid rent.

She responded that P&G-supplied gift certificates had made the business untenable.

Speaking of those gift certificates, customers can use them at several Tristate locations, including J's Fresh Seafood in Hyde Park and Maple Grove Farm Catering in Lebanon. That's according to the company's Internet site, www.culinarysol.com.

E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com