Hamilton County’s sweetheart deals with its sports teams doesn’t stop at having to build a new scoreboard for the Cincinnati Bengals: The county also has to replace all the seats at the Reds‘ stadium, just 11 years after it opened, because the old ones all broke and they were out of warranty. (Yes, apparently Hamilton County couldn’t even buy seats that were guaranteed to last a decade. Yes, apparently Hamilton County around the turn of the millennium had the worst contract negotiators ever.)
This will all cost county taxpayers $1.3 million, but on the bright side I guess at least it’ll create some decent local jobs for seat installers—
County officials say they saved more than $3 million by hiring a local company to design new seats and hiring former jail inmates – participants in a county work re-entry program – to install them.
Pay for this seat installation work? $10 an hour. Okay, so Hamilton County knows how to play hardball with some people — just not so much sports team owners.