CINCINNATI — A new public advocacy group plans to use March Madness as a launch pad for its campaign to convince Hamilton County Commissioners to spend sales-tax dollars on a new arena, even if it comes at the expense of old stadiums.
The Hamilton County Growth Alliance plans to use radio, digital and direct-mail ads to build public support for an arena capable of hosting major concerts and sporting events like the NCAA Final Four.
“It’s very clear that the lack of a modern arena is a huge drag on our county’s ability to maximize our economic growth,” said Jay Kincaid, the alliance’s founder and executive director. “We’re losing out on attracting sporting events like March Madness, which we haven’t hosted here in Cincinnati in 33 years … I’ve seen Bruce Springsteen more in Pittsburgh than I’ve seen him here at home.”
WATCH: The push for a new arena in Cincinnati
Kincaid is a veteran Cincinnati political consultant and a principal at Signal Strength LLC. He started working on the campaign last September, when Hamilton County unveiled a $1.2 billion renovation concept for Paycor Stadium that included a new headquarters building for the Cincinnati Bengals and luxury seating options for fans.
The release of public records in January showed the county and the team were exploring a roughly $600 million renovation, with $120 million in contributions from the team and the NFL, when talks broke down last summer.
Both of those ideas would leave less public funding available for an arena that would cost up to $800 million, according to a study published in November by the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce.
“I understand the county has a number of needs,” Kincaid said. “And I also understand that there are limited funds to address those needs. But because there are those limited funds, that makes it even more imperative that we get this right. We can’t afford to make the same mistakes that the commissioners made 30 years ago, when they entered into what is widely considered to be the worst stadium deal in the history of our country.”
The Bengals declined to comment for this story.
Kincaid declined to reveal who is funding the arena campaign. Because the alliance is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) corporation, it isn’t required to make that information public.
But Kincaid has shared the results of polling funded by those donors with Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, Hamilton County Commissioners and the I-Team. Public Opinion Strategies surveyed 400 Hamilton County residents in November and December for a poll that has a margin of error of 4 to 5 percent, Kincaid said. It also convened two focus groups totaling 20 people.
“It’s pretty clear the public understands that we have, as a community, multiple needs and limited resources,” Kincaid said. “They want the commissioners, and other elected officials, to make good decisions with that money to maximize the impact.”
Here’s a sample of the numbers shared by Kincaid:
- 63% ranked a new arena as their top priority, compared to 13% for Paycor Stadium and 9% for Great American Ball Park.
- 88% said it was important to keep the Cincinnati Bengals from leaving town.
- 36% said taxpayers should not have to pay more than one-fourth of the next Paycor Stadium deal, 28% said no more than half, and 25% said zero.
- 90% said they should be allowed to vote before the county allocates new money to stadiums.
- 78% said they would support the creation of a public exposition and sports authority to manage arena and stadium investments.
“Every single person in our focus groups, who was old enough to vote in 1996, knew Bob Bedinghaus by name,” said Kincaid, referring to the Hamilton County Commissioner who led negotiations for the Bengals’ stadium lease in 1997. “They remembered him because they knew the county got fleeced. They know it’s still hurting the county today (and) they don’t want to see that happen again.”
The arena study projected a new facility would require up to $560 million in public financing, with bonds backed by tax-increment financing, a new “sin” tax, rideshare fees or county sales taxes.
Hamilton County currently has a 7.8% sales tax, with capacity for a 0.25% increase with voter approval. Of the 7.8%, a half percent dates back to 1996, when voters authorized what was advertised as a temporary tax that would be retired when stadium debt was paid off.
“I definitely remember the promises they made that the sales tax would go no longer than 20 years, and probably wouldn’t even go that long,” said Blue Ash City Councilman Jeff Capell. “And here we are 29 years later, still paying.”
Capell is a longtime critic of stadium spending, who thinks the county’s top priority should be to retire the 1996 stadium tax – even if others want to use it for a new arena.
Kincaid said his poll did not address whether the stadium tax should be repealed. And his campaign will not take a stance on which arena location should receive county funding.
But he has an opinion on one that shouldn’t. Heritage Bank Arena “doesn’t have a big enough footprint” to support a modern arena and its ownership created Cincinnati’s arena problem by not investing in the building, Kincaid said.
“Why would we reward that bad behavior? Why would we enter into a partnership with a group that has caused these problems in the first place, that have put us in this position because they have neglected that building and allowed it to become obsolete,” said Kincaid.
