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Bengals' threat reminds us they're not about being good corporate citizens


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Bengals' threat reminds us they're not about being good corporate citizens

 

 

So much talk recently about citizens attempting to extort money from FC Cincinnati over a stadium.

 

But leave it to the Bengals to remind us that no one is better at the stadium shakedown game than they are.

 

The Bengals solidified their umpteenth Worst Corporate Citizen of the Year Award on Wednesday, when it was revealed they're threatening to veto the planned site for a concert venue next to Paul Brown Stadium.

 

In a statement, the team says it supports the $19 million riverfront music venue project but has "concerns about the proposed location."

 

Translation: The Bengals want money in exchange for their full support. Of course, they do. It's always about money with the misers of the NFL. Paul Daugherty has carpal tunnel from writing this column so many times.

 

The Bengals apparently are willing to stop – or at least stall or significantly alter – plans for the music venue to be built in a parking lot that tailgaters use all of 10 days a year. The concert venue will be indoor-outdoor, and this cool new attraction would draw thousands to The Banks year-round.

 

 

The Banks steering committee has been working on the concert venue for months. The Bengals have a representative on the committee. Yet here we are just finding this out, a week before Hamilton County commissioners and Cincinnati City Council are set to vote on the venue. But PR, like winning, has never been the Bengals' thing.

 

Bengals are like honey badger: They don't care. They have a legal right to veto the venue, and by God, they're not going to stop being sticklers for their Bengal-friendly stadium lease now. The Bengals' deal with Hamilton County allows the team first right of refusal for anything to be built on the site of taxpayer-funded Lot 27, southeast of Paul Brown Stadium near Smale Riverfront Park.

 

Maybe the Bengals will be willing to work with the county like they did in 2014, when the team made rare concessions in the lease to pave the way for GE's office at The Banks. The deal was done when Republicans controlled the board of commissioners. Democrats are in charge now, and long-time Bengals nemesis Todd Portune is board president.

 

It's possible the Bengals would be fine with the music venue being built on a lot that's not directly adjacent to the stadium, perhaps one in front of GE's building.

 

Overall, though, history tells us it's wishful thinking that the Bengals would make an exception and do something for the greater good. They have tens of millions in stadium upgrades on the horizon. They're a month removed from a fight with Commissioner Portune over whether the team or taxpayers would be on the hook for $30 million in the latter years of the stadium lease. Taxpayers lost, as usual.

 

It's tough to look at Wednesday's news and not think the team is trying to exact a little revenge on Portune, who's made a career out of fighting the Bengals on what's regarded as one of the worst stadium deals in American sports history. 

 

The Bengals remain stuck, spinning their wheels, at a time when the city is moving forward. Disappointing, but not surprising. The concert venue would be another big milestone in Downtown's renaissance.

 

Cincinnati is riding high off last week's Major League Soccer announcement. The football club looks extra petty, considering FC Cincinnati owner Carl H. Lindner III and his group of investors are paying $200 million of their own money to build the futbol club's new stadium in West End.

 

FC Cincinnati is receiving an additional $53 million in taxpayer money for stadium-related infrastructure. That's a lot of money. It's understandable if taxpayers are upset. But then there's the Bengals, who always make the taxpayers' blood boil a hell of a lot more.

 

It just so happens $53 million is the same amount of money the Bengals received recently for doing absolutely nothing. That was their cut of the relocation fees that the Chargers, Rams and Raiders paid the NFL to switch cities the past few years.

 

Call it bonus money, but the Bengals are keeping it all to themselves.

 

 

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics-extra/2018/06/06/bengals-threat-shows-nfl-team-not-being-good-corporate-citizens-column/679276002/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

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The Bengals are not against the symphony building on The Banks, just not there.

FYI, a lot of people tailgate there and the Bengals are looking after their fans.

No kidding.

 

And yes, Riverbend is still alive and well.  I got caught in traffic for the Grateful Dead tribute band last week.

Never seen so much tie dyed crap in my life.

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7 hours ago, High School Harry said:

The Bengals are not against the symphony building on The Banks, just not there.

FYI, a lot of people tailgate there and the Bengals are looking after their fans.

No kidding.

 

 

 

It's interesting how the county & Enquirer collude to try and throw the franchise under the bus at every opportunity.  Bad deal or not, that whole shady Banks development wouldn't be near the moneymaker it is without an NFL stadium next door.  The entire controversy seems like some petty bullshit to me.  It was no surprise to learn the truth is that they're simply asking to move it over a block or two.   No question parking & congestion down there are an issue so why try to paint them like the epitome of all evil, other than the typical media enthusiasm for calling out the torches & pitchforks? Get your power trip elsewhere, go yell at a drive-thru employee like a normal frustrated asshole instead of rushing to carry water for Portune or whoever.  

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7 hours ago, T-Dub said:

 

It's interesting how the county & Enquirer collude to try and throw the franchise under the bus at every opportunity.  Bad deal or not, that whole shady Banks development wouldn't be near the moneymaker it is without an NFL stadium next door.  The entire controversy seems like some petty bullshit to me.  It was no surprise to learn the truth is that they're simply asking to move it over a block or two.   No question parking & congestion down there are an issue so why try to paint them like the epitome of all evil, other than the typical media enthusiasm for calling out the torches & pitchforks? Get your power trip elsewhere, go yell at a drive-thru employee like a normal frustrated asshole instead of rushing to carry water for Portune or whoever.  

They only play 10 games a year in PBS with some in December  so its not much of a draw for the proposed complex.  Great American is a different story unfortunately the Reds are a hot steaming pile of garbage.

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6 hours ago, SF2 said:

They only play 10 games a year in PBS with some in December  so its not much of a draw for the proposed complex.  Great American is a different story unfortunately the Reds are a hot steaming pile of garbage.

"We might be inconvenienced for 10 Sunday afternoons by a music venue designed to draw less than 1/20th of our capacity. I mean, sure, who is going to schedule a big concert for Sunday at noon in December KNOWING there will be a football game... " 

I simply cannot believe that the stadium deal allows the Bengals to determine the future of the waterfront. The Bengals ain't shit, and never have been. Cincy jumped through all of those hoops to keep the league's laughingstock. "Allows our fans to tailgate..." In other words, put the parking where it helps us. No one is going to be booking Aerosmith to play at the same time as your game against the Browns.

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3 hours ago, LostInDaJungle said:

"We might be inconvenienced for 10 Sunday afternoons by a music venue designed to draw less than 1/20th of our capacity. I mean, sure, who is going to schedule a big concert for Sunday at noon in December KNOWING there will be a football game... " 

I simply cannot believe that the stadium deal allows the Bengals to determine the future of the waterfront. The Bengals ain't shit, and never have been. Cincy jumped through all of those hoops to keep the league's laughingstock. "Allows our fans to tailgate..." In other words, put the parking where it helps us. No one is going to be booking Aerosmith to play at the same time as your game against the Browns.

 

Well, the parking lot will no longer be there regardless of whether the new venue is being used at the time or not.  

 

Ultimately though it's a contest between a poor-mouthing schlub "do you know who my Dad was?!" NFL owner & local government that, ethically, probably should not be so personally involved in real estate speculating.  I wish they both could lose, as much as I can be bothered to GAF in the first...  and...  meh.

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On 6/9/2018 at 10:53 PM, sparky151 said:

Did Riverbend close? This seems like a duplicate of that but closer to downtown.

My guess is it will be significantly smaller than the 20K Riverbend can hold.  Not that many groups can draw like that anymore.  There is a new outdoor venue in downtown Raleigh and it gets more of the mid sized concerts that roll though, while the big shows still go to the area's version of Riverbend.  The Bengals shenanigans aside, this will be a good thing for downtown Cincinnati.

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On 6/10/2018 at 7:04 PM, T-Dub said:

 

It's interesting how the county & Enquirer collude to try and throw the franchise under the bus at every opportunity.  Bad deal or not, that whole shady Banks development wouldn't be near the moneymaker it is without an NFL stadium next door.  The entire controversy seems like some petty bullshit to me.  It was no surprise to learn the truth is that they're simply asking to move it over a block or two.   No question parking & congestion down there are an issue so why try to paint them like the epitome of all evil, other than the typical media enthusiasm for calling out the torches & pitchforks? Get your power trip elsewhere, go yell at a drive-thru employee like a normal frustrated asshole instead of rushing to carry water for Portune or whoever.  

Traffic???? Have you forgotten about the streetcar err monorail....

 

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14 hours ago, UncleEarl said:

My guess is it will be significantly smaller than the 20K Riverbend can hold.  Not that many groups can draw like that anymore.  There is a new outdoor venue in downtown Raleigh and it gets more of the mid sized concerts that roll though, while the big shows still go to the area's version of Riverbend.  The Bengals shenanigans aside, this will be a good thing for downtown Cincinnati.

Seating is for a 3K venue with more outdoor.

Trends are such in music that there are very few acts that can fill a 20K arena anymore. And those who can are drawing a... How shall I say this... darker, less affluent audience. I did some work a few years ago for a very famous artist that was really at the top of her game, and the bigger shows never sold out. I also did sound for some more urban acts that came through... I got paid less to do more, and I heard the management talk repeatedly about how they don't make much with these type of shows. In FAR less polite terms than I just used.

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59 minutes ago, LostInDaJungle said:

Seating is for a 3K venue with more outdoor.

Trends are such in music that there are very few acts that can fill a 20K arena anymore. And those who can are drawing a... How shall I say this... darker, less affluent audience. I did some work a few years ago for a very famous artist that was really at the top of her game, and the bigger shows never sold out. I also did sound for some more urban acts that came through... I got paid less to do more, and I heard the management talk repeatedly about how they don't make much with these type of shows. In FAR less polite terms than I just used.

Interesting.  I think it may depend upon the area.  The big shows here are pretty evenly split between hip-hop and mainstream country. 

 

As I've aged I have little interest in dealing with the drunk kids at the big shows.  Most of the acts I like aren't all that popular anyway...clubs and small outdoor venues work great. 

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This is real simple, I was a season ticket holder during the dark days of the 90's until Riverfront closed.  Have been a season ticket holder since Marvin got here.  They could go Cleveland next year and I would still keep my tickets.  However, if they close down my parking pass lot which I pay for, I'll give up my seats on the spot.  The reason being due to health reasons I can't walk long distances without pain.  As it is now by the time I make it to the club my leg is in so much pain I can hardly walk and have to rest it for 5 mins.  There is no way I'm walking any further then I do now.  Also the handicap spots are always full so I'm sure I'm not the only person paying to get closer due to medical reasons.

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