Cincinnati is in a world of hurt.  On November 10th, Assistant Hamilton County Administrator Christian Sigman estimated that the county that houses the Reds’ Great American Ballpark and the Bengals’ Paul Brown Stadium will come up $13.8 million short in 2010 with respect to the cash promised to subsidize the teams and the Riverfront district.

If nothing is done to ameliorate the situation, the five-year projected defecit is staggering.  A whopping $93.4 million in the hole, the stadium sales-tax fund is nothing less than a personal piggy bank for the owners of the city’s sports franchises.

The initial remedy proposed by Sigman and company would reduce the property tax rollback on Hamilton County homeowners.   The measure, which was promised to taxpayers in 1996 while enforcing a half-cent stadium tax hike, would take away roughly $120 per $100,000 of home equity.

Not only are county officials targeting their residents to make up the difference, but Bengals and Reds fans should be wary of increases in ticket sales, concessions, and stadium parking.  And you thought it was expensive to bring the family to a game THIS year!

Amidst all of this ill news, it is important to recognize how sports teams are treated by the local goverment.  Not only did Hamilton County promise to subsidize the cost of building these stadiums, but now that the return on investment has not accrued the anticipated tax revenue, it is trying to renegotiate with Cincinnati Public Schools.  The School board will decide on Monday whether to defer a $5 million tax payment to bail out the county until 2011.

Let me get this straight.  So, the investment in your sports stadiums didn’t pan out like you thought.  And now, you’re considering borrowing from your school fund to get the cash you need to pay off your stadium fund debts next year.  AND Mangini has turned out not to be a man-genious afterall!

Hamilton County residents, we feel for you.

But these deals happen all the time.  That’s why we created the Sports Fans Coalition, and why we’ll keep fighting the good fight to provide recourse for those sports fans who continue to pay for publicly-funded stadiums, and get the proverbial shaft.  You deserve cheaper tickets.  You deserve to have someone fighting on your behalf to change the system.  JOIN THE COALITION today.