29-05-2025
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
