It's a thirty I had fifty five KRCD talk station kind of expected Jason Williams from The enquire to talk about the County Bengals name stadium funding. Joe has not been able to reach him at this point, so I just appreciate the frustrated look on Joe's face when that happened, since we had him lined up. Is he there now? No, I had a glimmer of hope there when the screen went read. Anyhow, I do have local stories to dive
on into before we hear from Marine Gardner. She's going to talk about the twenty twenty five Harvey Chayette Spring Forum, which is designed the benefit the Parkinston's Support and Wellness Group, which is a wonderful group. Bob Letter, who's a friend of the show and the guy responsible for the Christmas tree ornament thing every Christmas time, is behind the relationship with the Parkinson's Group and the fifty five KRC Morning Show.
So anyway, excuse me, we can get the local stories one thread the entire article a little, but suffice it to say, us Representative Greg Landsman and his wife Sarah had to dump hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of their corporate stocks, including shares and defense contractors in a tobacco company to our own conclusions on that. That's corny new Federal. Oh is he there now? Oh, Jason Williams, since I acquire welcome back to the fifty five careceone
Morning show. A little worried about you there for a moment.
Hey, Hey, Brian, how you doing.
I'm doing fine. If I didn't live in Hamilton County, I'd feel a little bit better because I guess some of my tax dollars are going to be going to pay Course Stadium, probably not the full don't know the full amount yet, but Phase one suggests that I guess the county County's going to be on the hook for sixty four and a half million dollars of this phase one of the upgrades, and that's a total of one hundred and eighty five million dollars to improve pay Course Stadium.
But the full four phases of it, I guess you got to get to phase four before you reach profit. I don't know eight hundred and thirty million total dollars. I'm sorry. I'm not a fan of tack spare dollars funding private sports owners. Playfields. So we'll start with that. What's your reaction with this is, Yeah.
Much the same reaction that you had, Brian, were very very much think like on this, and I'm sure I feel like probably a lot of fifty five KRC listeners are shaking their head right now just to you know, it's just the the money Spiggott just continues to stay on for the Bengals and.
I'm still trying to process this thing yesterday and it almost feels like a forced PR thing because it was an agreement and then announcement of an agreement of an agreement. Yeah, it's like they announced that they have an agreement about an upcoming agreement and I'm like, to me, that just came off like they are trying to generate some good
positive PR here. And the fact that the it came out to where in this phase again, you know, like you said, Brian, it's just it's phase one and I didn't know they were going to do this whole thing.
In phases or whatever. But the fact that it.
Right now, the numbers come out that the Bengals side are going to put one hundred and twenty million in and that the County side is going to do sixty four. It very much comes off like a pr thing like, well, wow, the Bengals are going to put more in than the county's going to put in. Yeah, double basically what they're
going to put in. And so that's my read on it. Yeah. Yeah, let's say, look when you get out out, when this thing all is said and done and it gets out eight hundred and thirty million dollars, let's let's see how that that's what.
We need to know Phase two that yeah, there's no way whatever Phase two, three, and four have hit it that the math is going to work out with the angles covering the lion's share of it in those next three phases. If I was a betting man, I put it all on that outcome. But you know, the funnier part about this, the Bengals are borrowing half of one hundred and twenty million that they're throwing in from the NFL.
Well, that's exactly right. And you know again that's also another thing that's kind of being you know, it looks a little it's a little behind the scenes sort of thing that a lot of times when the Bengals are putting their own money in, it's there's always it's always kind of coming from somewhere else. I mean, they did some kind of upgrade to like the club level. I don't know, a couple of years ago. It's been in a recent memory. And you know, they made a big splash.
We find out, you know, a lot of that money was coming from the concessionaire. Now, look, however the money's coming from is all just not coming out of my pocket or your pocket as Hamilton County taxpayers, okay, whatever, like private sector. So I've always said, like, you know, even when I write about them, now it's like I think the Bengals slash NFL slash private sector side of things, you know, need to need to come through with, you know,
what they need to come through with. And uh and so that that what whatever whatever that is, and wherever it's coming from, if it's not coming from the taxpayers. And and when I say taxpayers, I mean not just
Hamilton County taxpayers, but state taxpayers. Now, all of a sudden, we you know, and it's a whole other, you know, a whole other rabbit hole of this story, Brian, is that all of a sudden, there's this big you know push that you know, state government needs to be footing the bill and a big old chunk of money for these things. And it's like, where where is all where where's all.
This coming from?
You know, it's interesting to see all these trends, and it's like all of a sudden now that there's all big onus being put on the state.
Well, why amen, six hundred million dollars coming from the state for the Cleveland Browns new mega complex. I mean it's a multi billion dollar thing that they're going to be building. And that really really frankly, you know, he used the words pisses me off, because it does. But that now we're turning to Columbus to get money for this monstrosity. Are these upgrades? They've already hit Hamilton County taxpayers up for it, and they are in this particular phase.
Uh.
And I you know, I am not always been much of a fan of Commissioner at Lisa Reese, but unlike the other two commissioners, she at least pointed out that the Bengals in the NFL should probably be footing the bill for the whole package. I love their quote that was reported they the Bengals got enough money. Forbes magazine said that referring to the recent news that Bengals under Mike Brown is among the nation's billionaires.
Yeah, in the Bengalsapam, I wrote my column last week. I mean, the Bengals have money. And here's the thing. And again, it doesn't get. It wasn't very heavily reported. It doesn't get you know. I mean, it's just one of those kind of you know, things that get voted on at NFL meetings and you know, among many different things. But last year, the NFL owners voted that NFL teams are allowed to bring in like up to ten percent
and private equity. So you know, that's just basically like, hey, you need more money, you know, you you need more money to help you know, do your business for stadium or for you know, however you run your football team. Well, you can now bring in a limited partner, a limited home or home elemited, a private equity firm of up to ten percent of the of the owners of you could own up to ten percent of the team. Well, guess what team voted against that. One team. One team
voted against that. I have no idea why, because it's I don't understand. I don't know what the downside of that is. I don't let me let me post it could do that. They could. They have the ability even though they vote against it. It was voted and you know it was voted in, and so they could go out right now and get uh, you know, millions and millions.
Of dollars in private equity.
Money to help them. And but you know that would require them, you know, giving up you know, a little bit of you know, you know, or be a you know, a minority stake owner and the team.
Yeah, well, maybe they're afraid that Hamilton County would be that ten percent, that the county would then control part of the ownership and prevent it from ever leaving the city and take away that threat from the future. But moving away from that concept, Jason Williams, I can just ask a basic, simple question, do we really need all these upgrades? I mean, can you can you not play football on a blank in high school football field and actually get the game played? I mean, the size of
the fields the same, the rules are the same. What's with all this glorified upgrades and all these amenities and bells and whistles, most notably in the boxes that people like you or maybe you get to go there. I don't go. I'm not invited to the boxes. I don't get any kind of special treatment. The vast majority of the the residents of the state of Ohio and the people live in the county are never going to see those boxes, right, Yeah, I.
Mean the answer the answer to that is, I mean no, I mean that d do you really absolutely have to have that and certainly pay for that with taxpayer money? Yeah, I mean the infrastructury things, that's you know what going on, uh well, heading on thirty years now, right, I guess opening the twenty five year twenty five year old building, it certainly is gonna you know, need need some of the one of the guts of the building.
Upgraded, and all that maintenance and upkeep, maintenance and upkeep. There's no way maintenance. He comes up to thirty million dollars.
And that means to me, see, I mean that stadium fund has been there all of that. Again, the stadium fund that the sales tax that we pay on our groceries and on everything we buy in Hamilton County. Uh, you know, half a cent of that goes right into that stadium fund. And that stadium fund is for ongoing maintenance and upkeep, and so what's been going on? And that's something that probably some intrepid reporter can dig into.
It's like, well, you know, why, why is it like some of the stuff, you know, why isn't that continuing on? And I know some of it is, but it's like, all right, so then why then there is this bill
so big? If that money is that that tens of millions of dollars is coming in every year to help pay awfully pay off the original debt but then still go towards maintenance and upkeep, you then turn around and think, way, thirty million dollars, well, that's more than double what the whole thing costs to build back in you.
Know, the late nineties exactly. And it still functions and you can still play a game there, and there's no I'm not keep up with the Joneses attitude, I'm sorry has lost on me. You know, it's just well I.
Agree with that, you know, and this whole notion that I mean, you go around the NFL and you go around ballparks and stadiums and all that, and it's just like there's just this you're right, there's this keeping up with the Joneses thing and it just seems that it seems to gall a little more here are a lot more here because of that original lease agreement. Yeah, and you know we're feeling it right now. You're seeing it. You're seeing some of those old wounds come back up.
And I mean, yeah, there's been a lot of you know, a lot of letters to the editor of the Inquirer, and I know a lot of callers to iHeart radio stations, and you know, there's a lot there's some old hard feelings coming up now and the Bagles were trying to avoid that. And so that's why I go look at this thing that got announced yesterday. It's like it comes out like, Wow, the Bengals are gonna pay more. Yeah, you can you hit the nail on the head on
probably ever. Yeah, for the first time, probably ever in this whole process, there's been a news story where it looks like the Bengals are going to pay more than the county.
So wish we had more time. Jason. We'll have you back on to discuss this as phases two, three, and four get rolled out. But I'm glad to see you're on the same side of the ledger as most on most of my lesseners in me. God bless you. Jason William Cincinnati dot com to read Jason in The inquire