By Cliff Radel
Enquirer staff writer

The Cincinnati Reds plan to bench another key player.

The Machine Room Grille, the Great American Ball Park restaurant initially promised to be a year-round eatery when the park opened in 2003, will close for the season Oct. 8.

For the second straight season, the Machine Room breaks the Reds' promise to fans. Blame a lack of business.

"When there's no game," said Reds Chief Operating Officer John Allen, "you could shoot off a cannon in that place and not hit anyone."

Cannon fire would have left Thursday's lunch crowd unscathed.

Joe Sims, general manager for Sportservice, the stadium's food provider, counted 32 heads. The Machine Room seats 300.

"You can't stay open doing those numbers," said Sims.

Those numbers should increase.

Come Sept. 25, the team's Hall of Fame and Museum opens.

The Reds' gift shop, another traffic generator, adjoins the hall of fame. Both could attract diners.

"If the traffic's there, of course we'll keep the restaurant open," Sims said.

"But our goal is to close Oct. 8 because from what we've seen, there's no traffic.''

Todd Portune,Hamilton County Commissioner, intends to discuss the Machine Room during the commissioners' Wednesday meeting.

The county owns the taxpayer-financed $280 million stadium.

Terms of the lease do not give the county the right to keep the restaurant open or profit from it.

Those issues are between the Reds and Sportservice.

"A year-round restaurant was what the people thought they were getting," Portune said.

The restaurant was among several heavily promoted features of the new ball park when voters approved the stadium tax in 1996.

"It should be open year-round," said Lisa Craig, a Loveland office manager. She stood outside the Machine Room before Wednesday night's Reds game.

"People from other cities go on vacation," Craig explained. "They want to see what a ballpark looks like inside. This restaurant gives them, and people from Cincinnati, the chance to do that."

On his way to his seat in the ballpark, former Red Chuck Harmon expressed dismay at the closing.

"They're doing that again? Aren't they making enough money? They don't advertise enough."

Harmon said he would like to go the Machine Room in the winter. "That would be nice" to see the outfield covered with snow and dream of the coming of spring and the start of another season.

"Not having any foot traffic is an explanation," Portune said. "But it's not an excuse. No question, location plays a role in the amount of traffic they get."

Location is no problem for the restaurant in the Milwaukee Brewers' Miller Park. Friday's Front Row Sports Grill - part of the T.G.I. Friday's chain - seats 350.

Opened in 2001, the Milwaukee restaurant serves lunch and dinner 363 days a year. Like the three-year-old Outback in the Outfield restaurant at the Pittsburgh Pirates' PNC Park, Milwaukee's Front Row Sports Grill only closes for Christmas and Thanksgiving.

Unlike the Pirates' restaurant, the Brewers' establishment is not near a neighborhood.

"We're in the middle of nowhere," said Jim Duckworth, the restaurant's general manager.

But "during the winter, they have to go 300 yards to get to our restaurant. But they do."

Diners show up in the summer, too. Duckworth's restaurant, one of 526 Friday's American outlets, set "the domestic sales record for the first week of August."

Allen and Sims said they are searching for a solution to keep the Machine Room open. Both made the same suggestion.

"Finish The Banks," Sims said.

Allen feels the riverfront project of shops and condos would "generate all the foot traffic we need."

Last chances for lunch

The Great American Ball Park's Machine Room Grille closes for the season Oct. 8. Until then, it's open to the public 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday. On game days and nights, patrons must have a ticket to enter. Information: 513-765-7606.

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E-mail cradel@enquirer.com