Hamilton County is so confident that the Bengals' new stadium will be done on time that it was willing to put millions of dollars on the line.

If the new Paul Brown Stadium isn't ready for the Bengals' first home preseason game next August, taxpayers will owe the team $4 million per game.

They will be let off the hook a little if construction is delayed by an "act of God" or other catastrophic event: in that case the penalty will drop to $2 million per game, according to a lease agreement the county and the team signed in 1997.

But county officials are confident the arena will be ready when the Chicago Bears visit Cincinnati for that game on Aug. 19, 2000.

Bengals President Mike Brown has cited the possibility that the stadium might not be ready as one reason he has withheld giving the Reds permission to replace the artificial turf with a grass field after his team plays its last game in Cinergy Field. That game likely will happen Dec. 12 against the Cleveland Browns.

The Reds want to install grass, but the Bengals have veto power over any major Cinergy changes until they occupy their new facility, in the summer of 2000.

One reason for the county's confidence is the fact the stadium contractor, Turner Construction, could face $1 million in penalties, according to Brooke Hill, spokeswoman for the county's stadium construction projects.

County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus said Turner Construction vice president Kenneth Butler assured him that among the tiny group of companies that build stadiums, it would be a huge public relations blow for a company to not finish on time.

"I put the possibility of the Bengals having to play a game at Cinergy (in 2000) as remote," Bedinghaus said.

"Technically, July 31 is the deadline we're shooting for." The county's lease agreement with the Bengals allows for $2 million-per-game penalties in the event of "strike, lockout, labor trouble, act of God, war, civil disorder, riot, lightning, earthquake, fire, hurricane, tornado or flood."

If the county would fail to finish the stadium by the 2001 season, penalties would climb to $6 million per game, with $3 million penalties for delays caused by unavoidable events.

Bedinghaus said he is confident the stadium will be substantially finished and ready for a game by July 31, 1999.

Bedinghaus said that when he told Reds officials the county would not stand in the way of grass installation, it was on the condition of the Bengals having the option of using Cinergy Field, if need be, at the start of the next exhibition football season. That's a tricky proposition because some of Cinergy's blue seats must move over the baseball field, covering it and potentially killing the grass underneath, when the stadium's stands are positioned in their football alignment. The Reds, working with the Motz Group, developed a plan that would allow the Bengals to play on a 90-percent-grass, 10-percent-artificial-turf field, but the Bengals balked.

The Reds and Motz then developed a plan that would assure the Bengals of playing on an all-grass field if Paul Brown Stadium is not finished, Bedinghaus said.

Motz has won contracts to install turf at Ohio Stadium during its 1999-2000 renovation, and early this year quickly installed new grass before the Super Bowl. Bedinghaus said he has confidence that Motz would do a good job with Cinergy, especially because of its location: "They're not going to be messing up at home."

And, Bedinghaus repeated his prediction the county will not have to pay any penalties to the Bengals if the team fails to lure at least 50,000 per game into the stands of the new stadium.

Copyright 1999 The Cincinnati Post