Latest news with #FrostBrownTodd
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What will the new Bengals stadium negotiators cost Hamilton County?
Hamilton County has new lawyers to represent the taxpayers' interests in negotiations over Paycor Stadium renovations, with higher hourly rates. The Hamilton County Commissioners unanimously voted May 15 to replace Tom Gabelman as special project counsel for Paycor negotiations and riverfront developments with attorneys from Dinsmore and Shohl. They also voted to replace Gabelman in negotiations for the Great American Ballpark lease with the law firm of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease. Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich supported the move, saying the county had been "treading water" in negotiations on Paycor. Gabelman had been representing the county in stadium talks for nearly 30 years. After the county terminated its contract with him, he resigned as a partner with Frost Brown Todd. Gabelman noted that the new lawyers' rates were nearly twice his rate at the commissioners' meeting and in a memo he released after the meeting. Gabelman charged the county $250 an hour, which was a discount. He told The Enquirer in 2019 that his usual rate was $560 an hour. In 2019, Gabelman estimated that Frost Brown Todd had received $21 million from the county in legal fees over 22 years. Pillich said the rate for Dinsmore partners will be $450 an hour, and $250 for its staff attorneys. When handling work on the Reds ballpark, partners with Vorys will make $425 an hour and staff attorneys will make $250. Pillich told reporters May 15 that she thinks the costs will wash out given the scope of the work and the fact that staff attorneys are billing at the same rate as Gabelman. She noted that the rates for the new law firms are also discounted. "I think that the law firms we recommended and the commissioners chose, I just think they've got an economy of scale based on how their offices are set up and based upon their national reputations. So I'm assuming they will work faster," she said. Pillich said her primary concern was ensuring the county is in a position to more forward with the stadiums and with riverfront development. "That's a huge part of our economic engine in this county and I want to make make sure they have the best tools available to them to make the decisions they need to make," she said. Regional politics reporter Erin Glynn can be reached at eglynn@ @ee_glynn on X or @eringlynn on Bluesky. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What the new Paycor Stadium lawyers will cost Hamilton County
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gabelman: We got the new Bengals stadium lease deal 90 percent done
Tom Gabelman is not bitter. But when he learned Hamilton County was firing him and his former law firm, Frost Brown Todd, as outside counsel handling riverfront development and negotiations with the Bengals for a new stadium lease, he was stunned. 'Within the last year and a half, we probably have had 12 executive sessions, and that's how we meet with the (Hamilton County Board of Commissioners) to advise them,' Gabelman said on this week's episode of The Enquirer's That's So Cincinnati podcast. 'And in none of those executive sessions did we ever hear, oh, well, I don't think you're going in the right direction, or there's some issue with performance. 'We've been counsel for almost 30 years, and we've demonstrated our record.' Gabelman reflected on those three decades working to secure property transfers, political deals and lease modifications – which he said benefitted the county – after voters in 1996 approved the half-cent sales tax increase that funded Paycor Stadium (formerly Paul Brown Stadium) and Great American Ball Park. He was on the front lines in 1998 when the late Todd Portune, then a Cincinnati City Council member, literally turned back the hands of time to meet a property transfer deadline. 'We're going into this midnight deadline … and we were running behind. So (Portune) moved the clock,' Gabelman said. Gabelman left city hall in the wee hours that morning with the deed in hand. Gabelman did not hold back when rebutting critics who suggested he and his firm were profiting at the expense of taxpayers without bringing value, pointing to millions of dollars acquired in grants, tax savings and investments on the riverfront. 'Gabelman's charging them a million dollars a year. Well, yeah, at a severely discounted rate that is probably a negative margin with my own firm,' Gabelman said. 'But we put public good over profit because we saw the change that had been happening and the change that continues to happen.' Despite the turn of events, Gabelman said the announcement of a new lease agreement is imminent. "I am very optimistic," he said. "I think we left the county well positioned to get the deal done with the Bengals. They should get the deal done with the Bengals because we had 90 percent of it done." That's So Cincinnati, The Enquirer's weekly podcast on what's making news in our community, features a who's who of special guests. Listen to it at Audioboom, Apple or your favorite podcast platform. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Fired county lawyer Tom Gabelman defends work on Bengals stadium deal
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hamilton County abruptly fires lawyer who has negotiated with Bengals for 28 years
Yes, the negotiations between Hamilton County and the Bengals are going swimmingly. They're going so well that Hamilton County has abruptly fired the lawyer who has handled talks with the local NFL and MLB teams (and other matters) for 28 years. Via Erin Glynn of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Hamilton County Commissioner voted unanimously on Thursday to terminate Tom Gabelman and his firm, Frost Brown Todd (yes, that sounds like a very British dessert). From the termination letter: "The board and the prosecuting attorney agree that services provided by another law firm would be beneficial to the board in representation of the board in matters dealing with the lease agreement with the Cincinnati Bengals, Inc." Gabelman said the firing of him and his firm was "completely unexpected." It's a major financial blown for Frost Brown Todd. In 2019, Gabelman estimated that his firms had received $21 million in fees from its work for Hamilton County over the prior two decades. Actually, the change could help push things forward. Something has kept Hamilton County and the Bengals from reaching agreement on a new long-term lease. And while the two sides recently struck a deal for short-term renovations to Paycor Stadium, June 30 continues to hover over the relationship. That's the team's deadline for exercising an option to extend the current lease. If the Bengals don't extend the lease, it expires after the 2025 season.
NBC Sports
16-05-2025
- Business
- NBC Sports
Hamilton County abruptly fires lawyer who has negotiated with Bengals for 28 years
Yes, the negotiations between Hamilton County and the Bengals are going swimmingly. They're going so well that Hamilton County has abruptly fired the lawyer who has handled talks with the local NFL and MLB teams (and other matters) for 28 years. Via Erin Glynn of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Hamilton County Commissioner voted unanimously on Thursday to terminate Tom Gabelman and his firm, Frost Brown Todd (yes, that sounds like a very British dessert). From the termination letter: 'The board and the prosecuting attorney agree that services provided by another law firm would be beneficial to the board in representation of the board in matters dealing with the lease agreement with the Cincinnati Bengals, Inc.' Gabelman said the firing of him and his firm was 'completely unexpected.' It's a major financial blown for Frost Brown Todd. In 2019, Gabelman estimated that his firms had received $21 million in fees from its work for Hamilton County over the prior two decades. Actually, the change could help push things forward. Something has kept Hamilton County and the Bengals from reaching agreement on a new long-term lease. And while the two sides recently struck a deal for short-term renovations to Paycor Stadium, June 30 continues to hover over the relationship. That's the team's deadline for exercising an option to extend the current lease. If the Bengals don't extend the lease, it expires after the 2025 season.
