By Brenna R. Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

FLORENCE - A mound of dirt and a puddle of water are the only signs of a baseball stadium in Florence, but city officials and team owners say they are close to finalizing a deal to bring the Florence Freedom home to a new stadium.

Early this week, the owners of the Florence minor-league team will sign a lease agreement with the city allowing the 4,500-seat stadium to be built on city land.

"It's taken a long time, but thanks to the effort of the mayor and council, we have a good deal for the team and a good deal for the city of Florence," said city coordinator Jeff Koenig.

Once Northern Kentucky Professional Baseball signs the lease, the city will purchase about 30 acres near Interstate 75 and U.S. 42. The city will then lease the land to the ownership group.

The city is spending about $5 million to buy the land and is issuing bonds to finance it, Koenig said.

The baseball ownership group will pay half the debt service on the bonds as its lease payment, Koenig said.

In the event the team defaults on the lease or folds, the city will own the stadium, according to the lease agreement.

"Everything is falling into place now," Koenig said.

Majority owner Chuck Hildebrant said the concrete for the foundation of the $7 million stadium is scheduled to be poured Sept. 1.

After several stops and starts with construction, this summer crews moved 200,000 cubic yards of dirt and carved out the "bowl" of the stadium.

"I tell everybody I've got a million-dollar fishing lake so far," Hildebrant said, explaining that several inches of water have collected in the bowl.

"Every time we get ready to do something, it rains 2 or 3 more inches," Hildebrant said.

From June until this week, almost 10 inches of rain has fallen in the Florence area, according to the National Weather Service.

If the water does not drain, it will have to be pumped out, he said.

The grass for the playing surface must be planted or sodded by mid-October, he said.

It has to sit all winter to be ready to play on in the spring. The season opens in June.

Because the stadium was not ready last spring, the Freedom is playing its inaugural season in Hamilton at 2,000-seat Foundation Field.

City officials and team owners had hoped that Florence residents would travel to see their home team, but attendance numbers suggest they haven't.

As of Aug. 1, the Florence team's average game attendance was 538 - last in the 12-team Frontier league. They are also last in the league's standings.

As of Thursday, the team was 271/2 games out of first place with a record of 18 wins and 53 losses.

E-mail bkelly@enquirer.com