(Note: Bob Drake's comments, which are not part of the article, are in red.)

Taxpayers will not have to ante up multimillion-dollar late fees for Paul Brown Stadium because construction managers have guaranteed team and county officials that it will be ready on time. [It may be ready on time, but at what cost? It shouldn't surprise anyone that the stadium will be finished considering how many people worked overtime to finish it.]

The Bengals' 1997 lease with Hamilton County stated that taxpayers were on the hook for penalties of $2 million for each preseason game and $4 million for regular season games not played in the new stadium this year. [Who negotiated that terrible lease? The Hamilton County Commissioners!]

In addition, the county and team are negotiating to remove another aspect of the Bengals' lease that threatened to hit taxpayers - the guarantee of at least 50,000 ticket sales for each home game this year and next. [Before you become excited about that possibility, remember a few things. First, ticket sales are nearly at that level already. Even if there are fewer than 50,000 seats sold, the number will be close enough to make the loss almost insignificant. Second, this may be done as a publicity stunt since it is possible that the county may not have had the right to negotiate such a deal in the first place. If you are going to lose the fight anyway, why not at least put a positive spin on the situation and earn a few points with voters? Again, remember who negotiated that lease.]

If the ticket guarantee is removed from the lease, it could go a long way toward resolving two lawsuits challenging the county's right to make such promises. [Exactly the point made above. By giving up that section of the deal before it goes to court, the Hamilton County Commissioners look like they have been working for the taxpayers.]

Hamilton County Commission President Bob Bedinghaus said Saturday the developments are good news for taxpayers and fans. [If renegotiating these sections of the agreement with Mike Brown is "good news," why were those items allowed to be in the contract in the first place? Isn't this just an admission that the County Commissioners did a poor job of negotiating the original contract?]

"As fans walk into the stadium on Aug. 19, they will see a completed, modern football stadium," Mr. Bedinghaus said. "If we're working for another month or so on some back-room issues, that's to be expected." [There have been too many "back-room" dealings already! Why not work in view of the public for a change? Is Mr. Bedinghaus suggesting that we should be used to "back-room negotiations"?]

The announcements also are good news for Mr. Bedinghaus, who in large part has staked his political career on stadium construction. [This requires no comment.]

The two issues could have been used against Mr. Bedinghaus in what will be a hotly contested commission race against Democrat Todd Portune this fall.

"This is legitimate good news for citizens that neither of these two clauses will ever be implemented," Mr. Bedinghaus said. "It's been our position that they never would be. [Then why were they in the contract? I agree that it is "legitimate good news for citizens," but anyone representing the citizens should never have permitted those clauses in the original contract!]

"But to the extent people were concerned, these two actions will put that to bed. And, yes, politically it's a plus for my campaign." [Do you recognize the real priority here?]

Bengals owner Mike Brown has been a big financial supporter of Mr. Bedinghaus. The Brown family and Bengals attorney Stuart Dornette have contributed $13,500 for his campaign as of Feb. 1, the last reporting deadline. [This should eliminate any question of who the County Commissioners have really represented!]

Mr. Portune, a member of Cincinnati City Council, was unavailable of comment Saturday.

Construction managers and officials with the Bengals have spent the past two months determining which parts of the stadium will be ready for the first preseason game Aug. 19.

The lease states construction managers must sign off on a legal agreement by June 1, stating the facility either would or would not be "game ready" in time for the Chicago Bears.

That date came and went with the two sides still discussing what "game ready" means, as millions of dollars hung in the balance.

On Saturday, county and team officials announced the all parties are confident the stadium will be open for business in 62 days.

"That component of the lease is unimportant now, because the building will open on time," Troy Blackburn, the team's director of stadium development, said.

Mr. Blackburn said all restrooms, concession stands, luxury suites, seats and life safety equipment will be ready for that first game. Also, everything necessary to play the game - scoreboard, sound system, filed and locker rooms - will be finished.

Some auxiliary locker rooms may need paint or finish work, as will vendor commissaries, some of the private team space and rooms that house some of the building's mechanical systems.

And Mr. Bedinghaus said ticket sales have gone so well that he is confident the guarantee will not be necessary. [This confirms that no "renegotiation" really occurred. Instead, this announcement is nothing more than a public relations stunt]

The team has sold more than 35,000 general admission Personal Seat Licenses. But that's only part of the equation.

Single-game tickets, group ticket sales and ticket packages will be added to the PSLs and must total 50,000. The Bengals do not release those numbers until games are sold out, as is the case with the first regular-season game against Cleveland.

"Now is the time for the team to show the community that it can perform on the field and at the ticket counter," Mr. Bedinghaus said.

Completing the stadium on time is important for another reason, too - to keep momentum of other riverfront projects humming long.

Fort Washington Way, the Reds' new ballpark and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center all have time lines that are dependent, at once level or another, on Paul Brown Stadium construction being out of the way.

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