Is the deal perfect? Of course not. Perfection was impossible given the hole dug in 1997 and the ticking June 30 clock.<\/p>\n
Enquirer editorial board
\n\u00a0|\u00a0 Cincinnati Enquirer<\/p>\n
For 26 years, Hamilton County residents have carried what the Wall Street Journal once called one of the most lopsided stadium deals in the NFL<\/a>. On Thursday \u2212 just four days before the Bengals<\/a>\u2019 June 30 opt-out deadline \u2212 county commissioners rewrote that unhappy history, approving an 11-year agreement<\/a> that keeps the team here through at least the 2036 season, with five two-year renewals that could extend that stay to 2046. \u00a0<\/p>\n More: At a glance: How new lease terms compare with current Bengals stadium lease<\/a><\/p>\n What changed? Just about everything that mattered.<\/p>\n No new taxes. Commissioners pledged that from the start and delivered.\u00a0 \u00a0Actual rent. Instead of the county paying a game-day fee to the club, the Bengals will pay $1 million a year for the first three seasons, rising to $2 million (with a 2.5 % escalator) thereafter and throughout any option years.\u00a0 \u00a0Real skin in the game. Stadium upgrades now carry a county cap of $350 million, with the Bengals and the NFL\u2019s G-4 loan program covering $120 million \u2212 about 25 % of the tab. Taxpayers shouldered 94 % of the 1997 build-out; this is a far cry from that lopsided past.\u00a0 \u00a0Community access. A county-selected third-party \u2212 not the Bengals \u2212 will book concerts, high-school football championships and civic events, making sure a publicly funded building serves the public more than ten Sundays a year.\u00a0 \u00a0New freedom to grow. The Bengals\u2019 veto over adjacent riverfront parcels is gone, clearing the way for mixed-use development that can widen The Banks\u2019 tax base.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n No two NFL cities negotiate under identical circumstances, but the commissioners insisted that any new pact meet modern market norms. This one does. It aligns with deals in Charlotte, Baltimore and Nashville \u2212 cities where teams, not taxpayers, now absorb a larger share of risk.<\/p>\n Let’s give credit where it\u2019s due.<\/p>\n Commissioners Denise Driehaus, Alicia Reece and Stephanie Summerow Dumas, along with County Prosecutor Connie Pillich, recognized that the county could not claw back leverage with the same advisers who signed away leverage in 1997. Firing longtime counsel Tom Gabelman and bringing in David Abrams of Inner Circle Sports reset the tone and the math. Abrams\u2019 charge was plain: end the lease\u2019s lopsided distribution of cost and risk. By every measurable yardstick, he did.<\/p>\n The commissioners also deserve kudos for not assuming the county would get state funding to support the stadium, not hanging their hat on those politics the way Cleveland did.\u00a0Now, any state dollars Hamilton County secures for Paycor<\/a> in the future will only sweeten this deal.<\/p>\n