Brown family gets more money

[DesperateDerelict]

Well, you've got to hand it too idiot-Mikey, simpering Katie, Pete, Troy, Paul II and the rest of the gang....they may be football morons, but they're damn good attorneys.

Payments will tilt to Bengals

By Peter Bronson • pbronson@enquirer.com • January 15, 2009

The Cincinnati Bengals have made their last rent payment for Paul Brown Stadium – and in 10 more years taxpayers will start paying part of the salaries of tomorrow’s Ocho Cincos and Carson Palmers.

Hamilton County Commission President David Pepper says that’s a problem, and wants help from the Bengals or NFL.

But Bengals’ owner Mike Brown said today the team is being scapegoated again.

With county budget deficits causing cuts in jail space, prisoner releases and public safety concerns, Pepper told The Enquirer he’s considering a plea to the NFL for a bailout. “It may be a Don Quixote mission, but it’s worth raising,” he said.

“It’s a bleak contrast,” Pepper said. “We have this first-rate stadium on the river, and 10 blocks north we have an under-funded county government.”

Brown replied, “I’m surprised at the remarkable staying power of the political arguments around this project. There have been many attempts to scapegoat this situation for political reasons. I just think it’s odd how it has cropped up here.”

Pepper had no specific plans but said the county may try to meet with the Bengals. “It would be nice to get some kind of relief and sit down and work it out.”

Commissioner Greg Hartman agreed the lease is hurting the county financially, but

hopes the county and Bengals can work together on the issue.

“It’s not a deal I would have done,” he said. “(But) I think if we deal with this collectively with the Bengals, I think we can deal with the situation we’re in.”

Commissioner Todd Portune did not return a call, nor did the NFL.

Hamilton County residents voted 61 percent to 39 percent to pass a half-cent sales tax in 1996 to build a new stadium and keep the Bengals, shortly after watching Cleveland lose its NFL team to Baltimore. The county and Bengals then negotiated a lease. The Bengals final lease payment under the May 29, 1997 contract was paid this month.

The annual rent payments started at $1.7 million in 2001, then dropped by $100,000 each following year, for a final payment of $900,000 on Jan. 10, 2009. The total payments were $11.7 million, but about $3 million for two years (2002 and 2003) was not paid, part of a dispute from a lawsuit by the IRS involving the Bengals and the county.

When the lawsuit was settled, said Bengals Vice President Troy Blackburn, “The county owed us $3 million and we owed them $2.9 million and they didn’t pursue it.”

Pepper said the county is still pursuing payment.

Commissioners need to discuss the contract this year, he said. “We obviously have to decide what we’re going to do. We will go upside down in a couple of years,” as rent payments cease.

After 2018, taxpayers start paying the Bengals. The contract caps the county’s first payment at $2,670,000, then allows payments to increase 5 percent each year.

“There’s very little wiggle room for the county,” Pepper said.

The county considered renting out its luxury box to raise some cash, but any rental income would also go to the Bengals, under the lease, Pepper said. “Every time I think this or that would help – sorry. They thought of that too.”

Enquirer Link

[sparky151]

Would have been cheaper and better for the fans if the City had simply bought the team. Market value of the team now is highly dependent on the stadium lease and the league's TV contract. Back then the team was worth less than the stadium cost.

[Walrus]

Would have been cheaper and better for the fans if the City had simply bought the team. Market value of the team now is highly dependent on the stadium lease and the league's TV contract. Back then the team was worth less than the stadium cost.

Wow -- good point. Of course that team probably would've had to go on playing at Riverfront stadium (with the Reds). But at least we would have something -- something that had actually gone up in value -- at the end of it all.

Eventually, after Brown has finished fleecing the community, the team will leave Cincy and the city will bulldoze the stadium and that will be that. All the money used to keep them around Cincy will have been for nothing.

[sparky151]

I assume Mike Brown will be dead before the lease expires and perhaps Katie will try to run a professional team. That might be the triumph of hope over experience however.

If the city had simply used eminent domain on the team, Green Bay would be the model. The NFL has a rule against civic ownership of teams with Green Bay grandfathered in. I doubt that rule would stand up vs ED however.

[HairOnFire]

Would have been cheaper and better for the fans if the City had simply bought the team.

But the team wasn't for sale.

The vote was stay or go, and more than 60% voted stay. A lease was negotiated. A stadium was built. And then, long after everything had been quite literally set into concrete....the locals starting feeling buyers remorse.

Stupid locals.

[COB]

Hamilton County should get Drew Rosenhaus to represent them. They both have the same amount of respect for a signed contract - very little.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Buyer's remorse is an understatement!

The city and Hamilton Cty government is such a joke and that's the real problem, having a bad football team fits right in I guess.

The least the son of a bitch could do is beef up his front office and give us a good football team consistently.

Now that they've stopped making rent payments and will be receiving $ from the county taxpayers every year, I would sure as hell hope they can do something with that and beef up their facilities and staff.

Yet not a peep from PBS.....

[Jet23]

Would have been cheaper and better for the fans if the City had simply bought the team.

But the team wasn't for sale.

The vote was stay or go, and more than 60% voted stay. A lease was negotiated. A stadium was built. And then, long after everything had been quite literally set into concrete....the locals starting feeling buyers remorse.

Stupid locals.

Yeah, that Hamilton County Commish. sure dropped the ball on that lease. I wonder what he's doing these days?........

[HairOnFire]

Hamilton County should get Drew Rosenhaus to represent them. They both have the same amount of respect for a signed contract - very little.

C'mon COB, don't be a heartless bastard.

Everything has changed since the documents were signed. The local economy crumbled years ago, and now the entire nation has descended into Bushworld. It's scary out there, man. Any minute I expect to hear the news Osama has emerged from his cave long enough to make a video making fun of my 401k.

Buyers remorse? Sure. In fact, I think it's only natural for the local citizens to wonder why they're still paying for an incredibly expensive steel and glass thing of no real value. After all, weren't many of them able to walk away from their own mortgages? So what's up with PBS? How come they can't just walk away from their obligations this time? It's just football, right? And more importantly, it's common knowledge Mike Brown is a gilded douchebag, and in times like these that sort of thing trumps everything....including lease agreements and signed contracts.

[Pidge]

They should be grateful they have a football team to bitch about. I know I am and I'm not even from Cincy!

[DesperateDerelict]

it's common knowledge Mike Brown is a gilded douchebag

Ahh, Hair, you silver-tongued devil !!!

Perhaps idiot-Mikey, out of the kindness of his black heart, would open up PBS this week for the homeless.

[Bearcat1975]

So basically the city of Cincinnati is Chad Johnson in this scenario.

The city signed a front loaded contract that favors the Bengals.

Now that the back end is here, the city wants to change the contract.

The city needs to ask Chad how that ended up working out for him.

I've said it before... Mike Brown is milking profit from "home team sentiment."

Does Mike Brown think "it would be nice" to win?

Sure.

Will he invest anything beyond the bare minimum of resources to get there?

Not a chance.

Sure I root for the home team. Always have. But they won't get a direct dime out of my pocket until I see a change in philosophy. I know its hard for people to understand this, but it really would be better if Mike Brown just packed up his crappy franchise and left. We could let UC and the highschool teams play down at PBS.

We should have let him walk in 1996. But "home team sentiment" was used against us. It would be hard at first I know, but the city would be better off without the Bengals. The fact that they will actually be a drain on the county from now on only reinforces that point.

If it were me, I would try to reach a settlement of some kind with the Brown family and then "bon voyage, Bungles."

Yes I know Cincinnati would never see another NFL team but Cincinnati would also never see Mike Brown again. Are you really ok with rooting for a team that will never be more than "competitive?"

Normally my answer would be yes. But after 20 years of Mike Brown. And with all the facts that are now on the table. If there was a vote today, I would let them walk.

[COB]

The fact that they will actually be a drain on the county from now on only reinforces that point.

I don't want the Bengals to leave. I just want them to get better. My guess is that rather than being a drain on the county, the Bengals are a huge net gain. I'm thinking of revenue produced during game weekends in the form of hotel room rentals, food, drink, overtime for suicide hotline employees, etc.

[HairOnFire]

The fact that they will actually be a drain on the county from now on only reinforces that point.

I don't want the Bengals to leave. I just want them to get better. My guess is that rather than being a drain on the county, the Bengals are a huge net gain. I'm thinking of revenue produced during game weekends in the form of hotel room rentals, food, drink, overtime for suicide hotline employees, etc.

I'm guessing the positive financial impact of a city having an average NFL team is less than most would guess, but a positive is still a positive, and that's especially true in a blasted and barren Bushworld landscape. Furthermore, I'm guessing most attempts to wage war on Mike Brown's wallet could only work in a small way, and even then at a far greater cost to so-called innocent bystanders like stadium employees, parking attendants, concession vendors, security staffers, beertenders, serving wenches, and even local bakers of urninal cakes.

I'm guessing the real gain Cincinnati gets from having the Bengals isn't financial. Rather, having an NFL franchise allows Cincinnati, the biggest little city in the hinterland, to feel big time.

Sadly, it isn't working.

In fact, the small time Bengals lack of success only serves to bolster Cincinnati's small city reputation, and thusly.....the locals own feelings of self-loathing.

To quote Pogo, we haz seen the enemy and he iz us.

[sparky151]

Hamilton County should get Drew Rosenhaus to represent them. They both have the same amount of respect for a signed contract - very little.

C'mon COB, don't be a heartless bastard.

Everything has changed since the documents were signed. The local economy crumbled years ago, and now the entire nation has descended into Bushworld. It's scary out there, man. Any minute I expect to hear the news Osama has emerged from his cave long enough to make a video making fun of my 401k.

Buyers remorse? Sure. In fact, I think it's only natural for the local citizens to wonder why they're still paying for an incredibly expensive steel and glass thing of no real value. After all, weren't many of them able to walk away from their own mortgages? So what's up with PBS? How come they can't just walk away from their obligations this time? It's just football, right? And more importantly, it's common knowledge Mike Brown is a gilded douchebag, and in times like these that sort of thing trumps everything....including lease agreements and signed contracts.

Anybody know what kind of bonds were sold for the stadium financing? Were they general obligation or revenue bonds? In other words were the sales tax receipts contractually bound to the bonds? I would guess they would be general obligation bonds, requiring the county to pay them off with any taxes available if the sales tax was insufficient.

[Pidge]

Anybody know what kind of bonds were sold for the stadium financing? Were they general obligation or revenue bonds? In other words were the sales tax receipts contractually bound to the bonds? I would guess they would be general obligation bonds, requiring the county to pay them off with any taxes available if the sales tax was insufficient.

Yeah, just what I was thinking.

[COB]

Anybody know what kind of bonds were sold for the stadium financing? Were they general obligation or revenue bonds? In other words were the sales tax receipts contractually bound to the bonds? I would guess they would be general obligation bonds, requiring the county to pay them off with any taxes available if the sales tax was insufficient.

You want to get into the actual facts involved with the financing of the stadium? Can't we all just post rants about how much we hate Mike Brown? Because it's a lot easier that way.

[Bearcat1975]

Anybody know what kind of bonds were sold for the stadium financing? Were they general obligation or revenue bonds? In other words were the sales tax receipts contractually bound to the bonds? I would guess they would be general obligation bonds, requiring the county to pay them off with any taxes available if the sales tax was insufficient.

You want to get into the actual facts involved with the financing of the stadium? Can't we all just post rants about how much we hate Mike Brown? Because it's a lot easier that way.

There is one very long Enquirer article from a few years ago that explains everything in detail:

How Mike Brown shaved money off of the cap in the early 90's so that he could raise enough money to buy the remaining shares...

Mikey explains how going to the playoffs is "actually more expensive" than just being competitive every year (he cites the 49ers as an example).

It is a few pages long but it spells it all out. Someone posted a link to it over at go-douchebags.com but perhaps someone can find it and post it here.

Lame ranting about Mike Brown usually takes the form of criticism about his salary cap expenditures, or lack there of. Fact is, Mike has spent up to the cap since the mid 90's. But then he pulls this crap this year where he cuts Rudi, Willie, and Deltha, then does NOTHING with the cap savings. Seems like Mikey is reverting back to his sketchy ways of the early 90s. I hope not.

But the real "rant" is what Mike Brown does when it comes to non-salary cap expenditures. Or lack there of. 4 Scouts, no GM, no indoor facility, and a medical/training staff that administrates year after year of preventable injuries. I'm sorry but when half the team pulls a hammy in camp, someone should be fired.

But there is no accountability in Bengal-land. From the rampant nepotism, to the Hayes Brothers, Mike Brown is loyal, and cheap, both to a fault and both to the detriment of the Cincinnati Bengals.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Well, you've got to hand it too idiot-Mikey, simpering Katie, Pete, Troy, Paul II and the rest of the gang....they may be football morons, but they're damn good attorneys.

How much would you be willing to pay to see that scenario flipped?