WHY THE BENGALS' STADIUM LEASE SHOULD BE RENEGOTIATED

By Marilyn Hyland

Our county leaders need to show more fiscal responsibility

While the reasons for their poor performance are open to debate, one thing seems certain - the Bengals will never get better until Mike Brown steps aside and allows someone else to run the game. Unfortunately, this is about as likely to happen as natural grass growing in Cinergy Field.

With Paul Brown Stadium and the accompanying fringe benefits, the County Commissioners and Cincinnati City Council have given the Bengals plenty of incentives to stay in Cincinnati, but little motivation to play better football. As long as our public leaders guarantee Mike Brown millions of dollars in profits, he never has to win another game. This is not good for the fans or the taxpayers.

Among the outrageous provisions in the contract that can and should be rewritten are the following:

· The taxpayers guarantee the dollar value of 50,000 tickets per game · The taxpayers pay penalties to the Bengals if Paul Brown Stadium is not completed on time. · The Bengals have stadium management rights · The Bengals can sell stadium naming rights. · The taxpayers must pay for expensive high-tech gadgets for the stadium in the future. · The Bengals control all advertising in and around the stadium. · The Bengals control food and beverage concessions for non-Bengals events.

Clearly, the stadium contract cannot be renegotiated without Mike Brown's cooperation, unless we can legally find a way to vacate the commissioners' decision. I will explore every avenue available to do this.

Like all fans, I want the Bengals to win. But win or lose, the stadium contract is a bad deal for taxpayers. As a county commissioner, I will do everything in my power to renegotiate the Bengals' stadium lease, and make sure that our county officials never do anything so irresponsible in the future.