Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 1, 1995                   TAG: 9507030145
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CINCINNATI                                LENGTH: Medium

BENGALS GET THEIR STADIUM

The City Council debated three hours Thursday night - laboring under Brown's midnight deadline for a commitment - before voting 5-4 to work with the county on a $540 million plan to build stadiums for the Bengals and the Reds by 2000.

Friday, two of the three county commissioners approved the agreement.

``I look forward to a long and productive relationship with the Reds and the Bengals,'' said commissioner Guy Guckenberger, who ratified the plan with commissioner Bob Bedinghaus. The third commissioner, John Dowlin, was on vacation.

Both teams have been unhappy co-tenants of Riverfront Stadium, owned by the county and run by the city. The 25-year-old structure will be razed to clear part of the site for what are expected to be neighboring, open-air stadiums along the Ohio River shore downtown.

Brown said in a statement that he was happy with the council's vote to go along with the county's plan to increase the sales tax by a penny per dollar - from 5.5 to 6.5 percent - to pay for the stadiums. The council's vote authorizes city manager John Shirey to begin to work with the county on the project within 30 days.

``The Bengals belong in Cincinnati,'' Brown said. ``I've never felt any other way, and this decision sets out a plan by which we can remain a Cincinnati team.''

He had been involved in discussions with the Maryland Stadium Authority in Baltimore, which offered the Bengals a new stadium and a lucrative financial deal. Brown said he would have begun exclusive talks with the Baltimore group if he had not received a stadium commitment by Thursday.