My Billy cunning him the Great America, and welcome to this hot, glorious Wednesday afternoon in the tri State. Of course, Reds Baseball won dramatic passion last night. Tommy Thrall was going nuts on the radio. Back out of again tonight, first pitch about six forty. Airtime with US is about five forty. The Reds drive maybe to go to fifty to fifty in the season. Only a few games remain, Let's see what happens. But until then, of course, once again,
this is like a recurring herpes infection. We'll back to pay Course Stadium. Here we are some thirty years later, back again, and Brian Hamm recovered it all for Channel five along with Tom Gableman representing I guess the commissioners, and also he's a specialty on it. We have this big elaborate plan, many pages long. Everything's going to work. It's only about one point two five billion dollars, and of course he had another thirty forty percent for cost overruns.
And who's going to pay for it? Nobody cares. It looks great, wonderful looking stadium. Only issue is well Mike Brown and the Bengals agree and that's maybe a different issue. It may be a little more difficult to get that for Brian Hamrick. Welcome again to the Bill Cunningham Show, and Brian, how are you.
I'm good. Thanks again, mister Cunningham.
Let's talk about can you give us an overview about what happened yesterday and when we look forward to a long term guaranteed bonus Layton lease signed by Mike Brown and the Bengals. Give us an overview, Brian Hamrick, if you can. Of course, you were here some thirty years ago, as I was with you at that point talking about the same thing. And it seems to me like the Great American Ballpark, also owned by the county, has no
issues whatsoever at any point. I can't recall any problems on the lease, and I guess it's going to be renewed soon, no problems at all. But the Bengals and pay Courts continues to be a difficulty give the American people a full report.
It's another you know, it's another situation over there. You know what that's about less than a half mile away, and you might as well be a thousand miles away in terms of the way things are handled and treated and uh, it just seems different. Yeah, Well, this ms A sport or a Cincinnati company h one of the top in the country for designing sports facilities, and they came up with a plan what they think would be, you know, top among NFL teams. What NFL teams want
to see. They they presented, Uh a while back, there was a presentation of here's what really is trending in the NFL.
What NFL teams.
So this firm then came up with, you know, the concrete ideas for what could happen down there. Uh, if you have one point two five.
Billion billion dollars to do it with billion dollars?
Well, I guess were the Bengals involved in formulating the plan or were they left out? And they're kind of told by the county what it looks like. Are the Bengals involved in the.
Well, it's a little unclear.
I think they have money maybe in the.
Design and paying this firm.
And look, you guys come up with what we want. But it sounds a little like nobody's really guiding this to specifics. It's sort of like you come up with an idea, lay your offerings at the feet of the Bengals.
And we will deny or accept.
You know, So that's kind of the way it looks. The King wants to see your offerings. What have you brought?
Kind of the Kim John Unn, May I approach the bench, get on your knees, crawl on your belly, and see if we accept what's coming. And by the way, you're paying for it. The first go around was ninety to ninety five percent by the tax. By the way, the NFL is the most profitable, profitable franchise, the most important franchise in the history of the world. There's billions and
billions and billions of dollars flying around. The Bengals are now worth about five to six billion dollars, multi billionaires, and all we have are the bills basically, and they have the revenue. Well, that change because normally, if there's that much money flying around, why should the taxpayer not participate in the in the ingredients and the meal that they're providing all the ingredients for.
You know what I'm saying. Why is that not the case?
Well, it all comes down to this.
You know, the Bengals have said in the past basically.
That they're willing to walk.
There's other towns that could support this team, and other towns that are waiting, probably with the check book right now, to write them a check for a new stadium, state of the art. You know, you saw that with you know, Oakland went out to you know, Las Vegas.
You've seen other.
Communities do this. You've seen you know, down in San.
Diego, they're looking for a team right now.
They wouldn't deal with what they wanted to out there, and then they lost the team go up to Los Angeles. You know, it's been said that, you know, the Brown family loves San Diego in that area, so you know that would be a possibility. Maybe they work a deal out there. I mean, the weather's great. If you're not paying taxes, you're getting all this, you're making money, and you can.
Live out there.
You know what, it isn't so bad. But when you have the team and all these teams are willing, It's not just the Bengals, all the teams are willing to say we're ready to walk. And when you have them pretty much over a barrel. They want this team. The fans here love the Bengals.
They want the Bengals.
Here, yep ye.
But at what cost is the question?
And that's what, and that's what the answer that has to be given by the taxpayers of Hamilton County.
When I talked to Governor Mike DeWine, you know, the state's willing to participate. The NFL has a fund ready to participate. The county sales tax continuing and infinitum, despite the fact that property rollback did not happen. And on the other side, you have the Bengals. As you said, dozens of American cities would love to have them. We want to do everything possible to keep the Bengals. The original cost of the stadium was about five hundred and
fifty million. Now it's more than two and a half times, not just to renovate it. The costs are skyrocketing, and the value of these franchises have skyrocketed. I think the Brown family has about fifty million dollars into it. Now it's worth one hundred times that. It's worth five or six billion or more. And then layer on top of that the age of Mike Brown. He's approaching ninety years old. The new generation is ready to take over, and I have every sense that Katie and Troy and the kids
want to remain in Cincinnati. They're Cincinnatians and they want to remain here. But at Lesha reason is the one that says that what price Jefferludo's talking about the Bengals putting up forty to fifty percent of the deal. That means the Bengals. Bengals would have to put up about five to six hundred million dollars to stay in Cincinnati, and then the county would put up some money, and the state's going to put up some money, but not
to the tune of one point twenty five billion. This is going to play out over the next five to six years because there's a five year renewal coming up that the Bengals are going to sign into, which keeps the present bad deal in place. So we're looking forward to another six or seven years of the same stuff until there's a long term guaranteed a lease, which the Bengals don't want to do until they see what this
what the funding mechanism is. And I'm not sure that the political character of the of the current Commissions commissioners fit in with the button down Tafts. It's Eneus and Hollister approach of the Bengals. That's a secondary matter. Answer this question, Brian Hamrick, why don't we have the same difficulties with my ballpark, the Great American? Why is one is always an angst and the other one things are handled quietly below the surface, and the Castellinis keep on keeping on.
Why Well, I mean you just have to imagine that they're they're more willing to work with. I think that the countings felt like they've been more equitable over there.
I mean the lease deal.
I mean of a number of stuff these independent of the Bengals that look at all these stadium deals, a number of them, you know, and one of them comes out all the time says, this is the worst deal. The taxpayers got the worst deal with this one of any across the country. I mean, you know, we all expect that it's going to be you're going to have to pay a certain amount and all that, but this is consistently comes up as one of the worst, if
not the worst. Like in every one of these listings of what's happening, I mean there's there's things like like the county, well like when they got pay Corps put on the side of the stadium.
Over there, Well, the county.
Doesn't even have to they don't even get to know how much they got out of that. The county didn't know what they made off of that, and and the county it's none of it. It's a sign hanging on the stadium that the county owns, and they don't get any money for it, you know.
I mean it's things like that.
It's that, you know, the county pays all the money. It's at leash Reese has been, you know, going off over this whole thing where they wanted to have a watch party. They couldn't do it, couldn't get it done, no way it could be done. And then all of a sudden there's a watch party in here and they're charging ninety nine dollars a person to do it.
You know, like that, This.
Is why, you know, one of the best parties.
Oh look, it is all legit. It's all in that.
You look at that contract is legit.
I'm sure all of it.
Well, you know, one of the best elements of this is that the guy on behalf of the taxpayer negotiating the deal with Mike Brown and the Bengals, when when he was kicked out of office, he changed jerseys and started working for the Bengals. So the County commissioner and negotiated the deal with Mike Brown after he was kicked out of office, runs to the Bengals and they hire him as a consultant.
That's beautiful. That is unbelievable.
I mean you have to wonder. I mean, I guess there's no law against that thing. You negotiate some big contract. We're talking up five hundred a million dollars contract at the time. You negotiate that, and then you go to work for the company that you negotiated with.
That that just doesn't.
Seem I mean, that seems something really odd about that and the way it was set up initially. Now they don't do it anymore. But remember, for years, I can't remember how many, maybe the first ten years, if the Bengals didn't sell the seat, the county had to buy those seats. Beautiful, but they had to sell ut the stadium and the county had to buy them.
If they didn't sell this stadium.
Well, I think we're going to talk about this for the next several years, and so we'll see what happens down the road. But every time you negotiate with Mike Brown, whether the I R. S or Hamley County you come out wearing a barrel around. You have no clothes left, you have no shoes, you have no car. He wins every time. It's unbelievable. He makes Darth Vader look like an amateur.
But alright, let's well.
I will say they're great at negotiations. Oh yeah, he sometimes don't have on the field. Well, you go and look at what they do as.
A business, superl super Bowl.
They are taught there.
They are Super Bowl contenders with every single one of these deals, and that's the way they play them.
We've got to get Mike Brown over to the Middle East and resolve that little problem between Hesbla Israel.
Hamas probably could do.
Mike Brown, get over there. It's all done.
There's piece and there's olive orchards growing up in the Goza. Mike Brown is the best there ever was ever will be. Secondly, give me an update. Tony Bender wants to know. He thinks he is deep roots in Kentucky in this so called highway shooter is still underground somewhere running around and they can't find the guy. They got the bloodhounds out, but can't find this guy who wounded five people in interstate I seventy five high school games are being canceled.
What's the latest with the mole and the mole in Kentucky?
Well, yeah, so there's Joseph Couch open fire hitting. They now know seventeen vehicles, at least seventeen.
There may be more.
People are still coming in with complaints and finding bullet holes in their cars that didn't realize we're there.
This guy squirrels off.
Into the woods Daniel Boone National.
Forest and is thick. I mean it is it going through that.
They took us up there the other day, put us in bullet fruit proof vests and helmets when we went up there, because and on where this guy is. They have no idea and I ain't think he was where we were, but they were requiring that as a safety precaution.
So we went up there. Sawry had parked the car.
Saw the sickness of all this. Sawry had to go to get to the overlook about three hundred yards away to get to the overlook and shoot down on the vehicles. But he went off into the woods like a rabbit and has not been been seen since, and they're still looking for him. They tracked him with dogs and what they basically ended up telling us is they track.
Them with dogs. They went down there into the.
Woods for days, bloodhouse.
Finally they told us four days. They were so convinced and are like, we can't say it's mister Colts, but these dogs generally don't list.
I mean, these dogs are.
Really good, and so they followed them, and based on that, they have now moved their command post to a separate area in the direction where they think that he may have gone to. They didn't say what direction that was, but they did say it was deeper into the forest. So they think that's why they think he's still in those woods right now, rather than dead, or rather than somewhere else.
You know, Brian, This like the Eric Rudolph situation where he lived in the mountains for years finally was caught in a dumpster behind a kmart, and I guess this guy Ultimately at some point you kind of hunker down, see what's going on. Well, Brian Hemrick, are there any any of these parties of p Didny these freak outs? Any of these things happened at Channel five with the Shari Pulo Mike Dartis any freakouts happening there at Channel five?
What do you think the only freakout we have is when the scripts come in late freak out.
All right, that's unbelievable.
Once again, Brian Hemrick, thank you for coming on the Bill Cunningham Show.
Thanks again, mister Cunningham.
All right, that's the best there is, Brian Hamrick of the Power of five. We got freakouts, you got the Snipers in seventy five, you got the Believe or Not. The Bengals lease is back up for the next several years. And Mike Brown, he's the best there ever was. Bill cunning End the great American with you every day. You're Home of the Reds and the Bengals. News Radio seven hundred ww