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(06-07-2017 07:43 AM)geef Wrote:  

(06-07-2017 07:37 AM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(06-06-2017 11:53 PM)geef Wrote:  Fair enough. I hope they ultimately get to use Nippert. It's perfect in nearly every sense. If not Nippert, I'm all in with the Taft High School site. I feel like Oakley has too many of the same elements - in terms of walkable/ city-scale connections to the area around it, and backed up to an Interstate - that Crew Stadium does. The Newport site is intriguing, but we have two stadiums along the river, and I'd love a more unique location. Now, where do I THINK they'll pick? Probably Oakley. Is that going to be announced when they reveal the design in a few weeks? I can't conceive of a design that isn't place-based and would work on all three sites. Curious to hear your thoughts......

I think you're right on...Oakley will probably be the spot they choose just for the ease of property transition and logistics, but ti definitely would not be the best.

I'm back and forth on Taft vs. Newport honestly. Taft would be nice due to it's closeness to Washington Park and Findlay Market, however, it is still pretty far from the "center" of OTR (Vine between Liberty and Central) and would be a logistical nightmare as well as an input-output issue for traffic given the lack of easement space for road widening in the area. I also worry about the neighborhood that it would be in...while OTR has been improved, the area around Taft HS has not, and the stadium would be smack in the middle of the Laurel HUD project.

I think the skyline view they could build into the Newport site would immediately make our stadium one of the more recognizable stadia in the country (in the same way that PNC Park does for the Pirates) while also giving some nice, proximate amenities (Hofbrauhaus for the die-hards, the Levee for the families, downtown and Covington Historic District are a 5-10 minute walk away as well). Traffic would be an issue if they didn't funnel through and lane shift the Taylor-Southgate Bridge back to 71/471 after the games, but the fact that the AA Highway development would be done by then would make the surface issues much less processed.

Nippert is the best site, but I think they ownerships' ambition is a bit too high to keep them there. So most likely to me would be Oakley, but I personally would lean towards Newport, and would be fine with Taft HS if they increase the police presence and found a way to funnel pedestrian traffic safely from OTR to the stadium.

I haven't lived in Cincinnati for years, although I went to a game at Nippert last year and know a bit about each of those sites - you nailed the intricacies of each. Well done. The financing piece will obviously be interesting as well. I wasn't thrilled - to say the least - about either Berding's or Lindner's statements. They're being too cute with regard to the tax piece. Yes, of course they aren't asking for a tax increase and they're proposing more private funding than any stadium project in Cincinnati history (bar Nippert), but they are asking for an extension of a very unpopular tax at a time when the region has much more pressing needs.

That's the thing that I doubt many people who aren't in the know about the project will pick up. I don't think the local government will market that renewal as the "FCC Stadium tax" when they push it onto the ballot, and that's very close to deception of the public. Personally, I wonder if the ownership group would tap CPS if they choose the Taft HS site, seeing as how that is the primary stadium for a few different high schools now, and was built with the help of the Tobacco Fund in the late 00's.