Hamilton County Fires Attorney That Led Stadium Negotiations, Bengals Release Statement on Negotiator

Hamilton County fired Tom Gabelman on Thursday. Gabelman has handled stadium negotiations since 1997.

"Now is actually the very perfect time, because we do have the deadline looming in just a month in a half," Hamilton County prosecutor Connie Pillich said on Thursday. "If we don't make this switch, and get some new eyes on the project in a hurry, I feel that we're going to just tread water, as we seem to have been doing, for quite sometime."

The stadium lease is up in June. There has been positive momentum toward an agreement, but nothing is official yet.

The new law firms recommended by the prosecutor have offices downtown: Dinsmore and Vorys. A judge will have to approve the new firm.

Meanwhile, the Bengals released a statement on Thursday afternoon about the lead negotiator that was brought in to help facilitate a deal.

“Recently, the Team was surprised to learn that Hamilton County had retained an outside stadium consultant who is, in fact, performing stadium consulting services for the Cleveland Browns. This was not disclosed to the Team initially, and the Team undertook research to finally uncover this truth," the Bengals said in a statement. “The Team has expressed concern to the County that a stadium consultant performing services for the Cleveland Browns might not have Cincinnati’s best interests at heart. The County can decide how it wants to proceed, but the Team felt it appropriate to share concerns over whether parties involved in discussions were working exclusively to advance local interests—or whether other conflicts might exist.”

Hamilton County hired David Abrams of Inner Circle Sports in March to help facilitate a deal.

The Bengals have until June 30 to send the county a letter about their intentions regarding the lease.