How serious is FC Cincinnati about the West End? The club hired Mark Mallory to do outreach

How serious is FC Cincinnati about building a stadium in the West End if Major League Soccer awards them an expansion franchise?

The decision this week to hire former Mayor Mark Mallory, whose family is West End royalty, suggests the club is serious.

FC Cincinnati President and General Manager Jeff Berding said the team is looking at three potential sites, the West End, Oakley and Newport. For awhile, Oakley seemed like the frontrunner, with government buy-in in the form of a promise to pour $51 million of road improvements and other infrastructure into the site.

But this week, clues began to point to the West End.

The club optioned land in the West End south of Liberty Street to build homes, which could be part of a broader plan for the area that surrounds a stadium. It also reached out to the Cincinnati Public Schools' board to talk, prompting a speculation about whether Taft High School and its stadium, Stargel, figure into any plan. The school board held a public meeting that included discussion of Stargel, though details were scant.

At both meetings, West End residents expressed concern about what would happen to their neighborhood.

Moms said they worried about how their kids would walk to school.

Black residents said they feared gentrification, being pushed out like what happened when public housing was torn down and more recently in Over-the-Rhine.

Taft High School alumni told tales about what the school means to the neighborhood. This prompted Berding to issue a statement saying Taft was not part of any potential FC plan.

And black leaders urged greater disclosure of what the team was planning.

Cue Mallory. He hails from a political dynasty, himself a popular two-term mayor. He still lives in the historic neighborhood. Nobody questions his love of the West End, so what he has to say will matter.

Mallory's role is two-fold, he explained in an interview with The Enquirer. He's going to help the team communicate with the neighborhood, but he's also at the table because the club wants to know what the community wants and needs.

If a West End stadium becomes a reality, the stadium would include a community cenefits agreement, which is essentially a contract between the neighborhood and club, Berding said in the same interview Friday.

Mallory said he sees the stadium as an economic development deal, which would benefit the community.

"Who else is talking about investing this kind of money in the West End?" Mallory asked.

When it comes to Taft High School, Mallory said it won't be touched.

When it comes to gentrification, he said it's already happening. The neighborhood changes every day without anyone consulting residents. With the soccer club, residents will see benefits.

Mallory has unofficially supported the team up until this point, writing a support letter to council members as they considered the Oakley site. He's always been for the big ideas. (See streetcar.)

And, in this case, he agrees with the argument that bringing Major League Soccer to Cincinnati would make Cincinnati a leader in the soccer movement.