FC Cincinnati: West End stadium deal appears to be dead

After tumultuous negotiations that peaked with an ultimatum Wednesday, it appears the deal to put a new soccer stadium in West End is dead.

After Cincinnati Public Schools dug in its heels, refusing to commit to a land-swap deal with FC Cincinnati, the soccer club declined to purchase land it would need in the neighborhood to move the project forward.

The team, which began its search for a Major League Soccer stadium in January 2017, now will focus on potential sites in Oakley and Newport.

"Tonight FC Cincinnati received a letter from the attorney for Cincinnati Public Schools," a statement from the team said. "As a result, FC Cincinnati did not move ahead with the purchase of needed property for a West End stadium, property that was scheduled to close today."

The school district declined to comment. FC Cincinnati also declined to elaborate on its statement.

Earlier in the day, CPS sent a letter to the soccer team holding its ground on what it wanted in tax payments. CPS argued that the district, even with tax abatements currently in play, should get more than $2 million a year – more than double what FC Cincinnati was offering. 

In a letter from CPS lawyer Daniel Hoying, the school district called the 5 p.m. deadline set by FC Cincinnati Wednesday morning “unreasonable."

“The Board of Education will not consider a proposed land agreement with FC Cincinnati unless the club promises to pay its fair share of property taxes,” Hoying wrote. 

FC Cincinnati President and General Manager Jeff Berding told The Enquirer earlier this week that a finalized stadium plan needs to be ready for MLS by March 31.

Berding said on Wednesday that to meet the MLS deadline, real estate deals in West End needed to be finalized, hence the 5 p.m. deadline. 

For the West End site, FC Cincinnati initially offered the school district a starting amount of $70,000 a year in lieu of property taxes.

On Monday, the soccer club bumped that offer to $100,000 a year during the construction phase with increasing payments after that. CPS scoffed at the offer. 

On Wednesday, the club offered $750,000 a year along with an ultimatum: Make a decision by 5 p.m.

The school board called an emergency meeting and went into a private, executive session to discuss the matter. After several hours and a rushed meeting between attorneys from both sides, CPS released a letter saying the club’s offer is half of what the school district wants.

The board also demanded a community benefits agreement between FC Cincinnati and West End residents, something the soccer club is already working on. 

The negotiations between CPS and FC Cincinnati have been tumultuous from the start.

Some urged the school board to reject a deal, with concerns about protecting Taft IT High School, the gentrification a stadium could bring to West End and the fact that it's always the students who lose when tax breaks are given.

Others urged the board to take the deal, saying that some tax money is better than what the underdeveloped site is providing now.

An Oakley stadium plan has already been approved by City Council. The club has an option to buy a site near the Oakley Station development, although MLS officials apparently don’t consider it “urban” enough. And Newport, with billboards beckoning the soccer club, has made it clear it is open to talks.

The West End site “could be voted down,” Berding said on Monday. “Then they could watch us have a press conference in Newport the next day.”