KyleCincy

I believe this is the same Sawyer of Sawyer Point fame, which is heirs to part of the Proctor P&G ownership, and the Sawyer family still owns the land but allows the city to use as a park. However the land will be forfeited back to the family if the city violates certain conditions, and from what I've heard the city has been violating them the entire time, but the heirs still have tons of money so it doesn't matter until one of their grandkids' grandkids goes on a massive cocaine binge in 2081. Yep that is the family. No idea about the family still owning that land, interesting. For a city market area the size of Cincinnati there are many Blue Blood families around here.

http://bengalsjungle.com/lostdecade.html In 1983 when Paul Brown knew he wasn't going to live a whole lot longer. He signed a deal with John Sawyer where he sold his shares of the team giving a promise that Sawyer would sale back the shares to his kids at the same price in 1993. Giving them majority shares so they would be able to run the franchise as their own family business. During this time Sawyer would receive all the profits from the shares while the Brown family would receive salaries. From the deal, Brown secured two key concessions from Sawyer: an irrevocable proxy allowing Brown to retain majority voting rights, and an option under which his sons could buy back his shares and all but one of Sawyer's existing 213 shares in 10 years at $25,000 per share, $5,000 less than the price paid by Sawyer.

The whole saga has been perfectly played by Mike Brown. His single greatest move was getting the county to agree to the deadline back around 1994. That meant his own stall tactics weakened the hand of the county, forcing them to do all these concessions in the lease. He was going to go to whatever city was going to agree to lease terms that set him up to buy out his minority ownership. That occurred in 2011 when he bought out the last shareholder with $120 million...in cash. The thing people don't get is that it is absolutely true that the Brown didn't actually start making money until 2012. For the past 30+ years they had been minority owners who merely earned a salary, then majority owners who paid themselves very small salaries, but now are pocketing millions each year and own an asset worth about $1 billion. John, there is a good read/article on how Paul Brown set up the different Bengal ownership interests, for cash infusion in the 70's and 80's, with options to buy back those shares (for what ended up being pennies on the dollar). Back in the early 90's, after Paul Brown died, Mike was contractually allowed to exercise his options to buy back ownership shares, and he did as much of that as possible. Kind of like buying stocks, with other people's money, super low and selling super high. MB IMHO has been more lucky than business genius (he is smart though). He didn't beat the IRS, his lawyers did, he didn't find the money to start a franchise, his Dad did and as I recall Dad formulated the ownership structure also. It would wonderful to inherit a NFL franchise. If I can find that article I will post it.

Guess we need to ask Bob Bedinghaus why the county agreed to this in contract or memorandum.

Was thinking the same thing, if it isn't in the lease then...........and if it was the County could spin off whatever parcel(s) to whoever LLC and wash their hands from controlling that piece (the height of a building).

Posted that article on the Banks Development thread also, due to "Agreement sets limits on building size at Banks". It is a really bad lease for the County/taxpayers.

Bengals lease allows them to dictate height of buildings at the Banks????? The Cincinnati Bengals have asked Hamilton County taxpayers for sole ownership of the naming rights to Paul Brown Stadium. The request – which The Enquirer obtained through a public records request – comes as the team and county haggle over how tall apartments at The Banks can be. At stake there: an 8-foot to 10-foot decorative roof ledge on a 10-story building....................... Agreement sets limits on building size at Banks The Dec. 20 letter to Hamilton County Administrator Christian Sigman stemmed from Bengals concerns over the county violating agreements about the height of buildings at The Banks. A 1996 Memorandum of Understanding sets building guidelines at the The Banks; the Bengals fear the county wants to let developers build taller structures than allowed. While this “relates to a 10-story building that exceeds the guidelines by 8 or 10 feet, the county’s materials and the presentation to the commissioners reveal discussions of what could be a 20-story building on the same block – exceeding the guidelines by more than 100 feet and designs on blocks immediately adjacent to the stadium with building heights far exceeding the guidelines for those blocks,” Dornette wrote. http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?NoCache=1&Dato=20140122&Kategori=NEWS010801&Lopenr=301220058&Ref=AR

Glad to see that. Cincy Mid Town does not have a ton of Class A office product. The Norwood class a stuff has some vacancy holes though. Please don't take this as a personal attack, but if like to point out the problem buried right in the language you just used to think about this project. Buildings aren't "products" or "stuff." They are buildings. The purpose they serve, unless it's highly specialized, shouldn't mean anything. They should just be good buildings and part of a well designed community. We have made a horrible mistake by bringing buildings into the universe of " products." Product is a common reference in commercial real estate circles. https://www.google.com/#q=class+a+office+product+vacancy+rate

Whats up player, lol.

Glad to see that. Cincy Mid Town does not have a ton of Class A office product. The Norwood class a stuff has some vacancy holes though.

Bearcats roll to 17-2 with a road win at USF. Still undefeated in conference play.

Good link to menus from back in the day, Cincy area restaurants. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=marionette+menu&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.Xmarionette+menu+cincinnati&_nkw=marionette+menu+cincinnati&_sacat=0

Thanks for the correction. We go there in a couple of weeks.

My understanding has long been that improving the West concourse was as much a goal of any proposed Nippert renovation project as improving the press/luxury box situation (revenue notwithstanding). I know they've already demoed the old concessions and restrooms on that side, so I'm optimistic that the new setup will be a great improvement. Also, this is going to be an incredible place to watch and play football. It was already so cavernous and loud when full. Will now be only more so. Both the West and East side get new and expanded restrooms and concessions. FWIW I have not been on the West concourse area since the 92' renovation. I am keeping my East side seats for now although those club seats look inviting. Will miss Nippert next season but I can walk to all of the games at PBS next season. Don't forget Bearcat Basketball on tonight at 9PM @Temple, CBSSN.

Going to be nice to see this project get going. At the last minute UC added in 3 more private suites due to demand, all 21 suites are sold out.

Can't make up anything better, CVG board votes to hire investigator for butt-dialed call As first reported by The Enquirer, Huff and his wife, Bert, claim Spaw illegally recorded a phone call after Huff “unintentionally and unknowingly dialed his personal cellphone” while in Italy for an airport conference in October. Savage also was on the trip. In the phone conversation, Huff and Savage discussed demoting McGraw and replacing her with Savage, according to Spaw’s attorney, Randy Freking. Savage is not part of the federal civil lawsuit. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20131204/NEWS/312040145/CVG-board-votes-hire-investigator-butt-dialed-call?nclick_check=1

I wish him well. those are some pricey homes and not much spec development so we shall see.

Way to cherry pick that article. Did you even read it? The part you point out refers to a time of "combat" in the 90's. The bulk of the article is talking about how Ohio's different universities generally get along now under the current way of doing things/funding structure. And a large part of this new detente was Gee and his relationship with the current governor. I read all of it, you want another, “You know Penn State just abhors Pitt. It would be the same way. Even though we love Cincinnati as a city, we want it to be an Ohio State city. They’d have to take Gene out and shoot him to let Cincinnati into the Big Ten. There are some things that we just would not to. And that’s the way that Penn State also feels about Pitt.” http://college-football.si.com/2013/05/31/ohio-state-gordon-gee-controversial-comments/ UC in a P5 conference would be huge not only for UC but for the entire State, especially on the research funding matters. It would probably get UC an invite to the AAU http://www.aau.edu/ Gee was a State Employee, shameful.

Glad he is no longer around. Presidents said the process of securing funding in the past has been extremely contentious. “It was really hand-to-hand combat,” Gee said. “There were times when the University of Cincinnati would want something and I would try my hardest to make sure they didn’t get it, even if I wasn’t going to get it either. It was not one of my greater moments as a university president. Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/23/ohio-state-president-steered-state-policy-two-years-thanks-relationship-governor#ixzz2mRtu5PWn Inside Higher Ed

That isn't a tax break. There used to not even be a tax and the JEDD created a special tax, on earnings, to fund infrastructure improvements. If his firm stays at that location for the term of the lease they can get rebated back 10% of what they paid. If he hung his shingle elsewhere in Union or Anderson TWP there is no earnings tax.

A close win and we might get passed up. OSU's strength of schedule isn't as high as the SEC teams so even going undefeated might not be enough if the Buckeyes can't convincingly beat a good opponent. OSU and Auburn both might have hangovers after those rivalry games, I won't be surprised to see 1 of them lose on Saturday. An undefeated BCS team has never been passed by a 1 loss team, but Auburn is close. I know Tuberville voted OSU #2 in the coaches poll though.

Well the good news is that OSU probably won't see a wide open playbook that Michigan used. MSU/Dantonio is Jim Tressel Jr.

Harris poll out soon, and new BCS Poll out soon. Super tight race among FSU, OSU and Auburn. The computer #s will be interesting. USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, Week 14 USA TODAY Sports 12:24 p.m. EST December 1, 2013 1. Florida State (12-0) (1546 points) (58 first-place votes) 2. Ohio State (12-0) (1462) (4 first-place votes) 3. Auburn (11-1) (1437) 4. Alabama (11-1) (1333) 5. Missouri (11-1) (1315) 6. Oklahoma State (10-1) (1248) 7. Baylor (10-1) (1100) 7. South Carolina (10-2) (1100) 9. Michigan State (11-1) (1037) 10. Stanford (10-2) (1034) 11. Clemson (10-2) (853) 12. Oregon (10-2) (843) 13. Arizona State (10-2) (765) 14. LSU (9-3) (720) 15. Oklahoma (9-2) (660) 16. Louisville (10-1) (625) 17. Central Florida (10-1) (572) 18. Northern Illinois (12-0) (547) 19. UCLA (9-3) (473) 20. Duke (10-2) (402) 21. Wisconsin (9-3) (266) 22. Fresno State (10-1) (215) 23. Cincinnati (9-2) (167) 24. Texas (8-3) (149) 25. Texas A&M (8-4) (121) Dropped out: No. 23 Southern California (9-4, lost to then-No. 22 UCLA 35-14) Others receiving votes: Miami (Fla.) (9-3) 47; Georgia (8-4) 41; Vanderbilt (8-4) 18; Iowa (8-4) 13; Marshall (9-3) 13; Southern California (9-4) 10; Washington (8-4) 6; Minnesota (8-4) 4; Virginia Tech (8-4) 4; Notre Dame (8-4) 3; Ball State (10-2) 1

45-17 OSU

Yeah both of those no calls were awful. No evidence to overturn Munchie's TD, and 100% evidence to give UC the ball on the fumble...clear fumble clear recovery and they overturned that call?