Paul Daugherty: FC Cincinnati stadium bid enough to make your head spin

Futbol Club Cincinnati is seeking a site to build a stadium for a team that hasn’t yet been admitted to a league that requires new, soccer-specific stadiums for its newest members. Follow?

FC Cincinnati has three sites for said stadium. At various times, each has been atop the hamster wheel. For awhile, it was Newport, for a longer while it was Oakley and for a far shorter while it is now the West End.

No. Wait. It’s still Oakley. “We’re very comfortable (locating) in Oakley," FCC general manager Jeff Berding said Wednesday afternoon. “I’d be thrilled to build the stadium there."

More: Oakley considers impact of possible MLS soccer stadium

The West End is a fallback then. No. Wait.

“I wouldn’t use the term fallback," Berding said. “We really like the Oakley site and we really want (it) to work. But I don’t want to suggest that the West End is somehow lesser than Oakley."

It’s possible you just did.

More: FC Cincinnati stadium deal: West End feels 'disrespected and ignored'

Meantime, wherefore art thou, Newport? We had architectural renderings that made the Newport site look like Hollywood-on-the-Ohio. Then, fans complained and suddenly Hollywood looked like Ashtabula.

More: What's going on at Newport site suggested for FC Cincinnati stadium?

Then Oakley was the scene, until it wasn’t. Now, the West End is happening, until it isn’t.

“I understand to some it looks like a traveling circus," said Berding.

If the Big Top fits…

Berding promises he has the situation in hand and moving in the proper direction. If he more closely resembles the Kevin Bacon character in Animal House, directing parade traffic, well…

“To some degree, I feel like I’m in a Catch-22," Berding said. “I have to keep more than one site on the table." If Oakley doesn’t work and another option isn’t available, “People would rightly criticize me for that."

Maybe Berding is right when he claims he has been “transparent" throughout this crazy-quilt process. Much deal-making is messy and unpublicized. We don’t see the mess-in-process. We see the completed mess. The notion that lots of FCC’s ongoing quest to become Major League has been played out publicly could have something to do with its Big Top feel.

Berding says he just wants to get it right. Oakley-ites worry about game-night traffic disasters. “You should see what it looks like on Sundays when Crossroads Church lets out," is what I hear, even as the Crossroads folks do yeoman’s work at controlling the flow.

So, Berding had the city do a traffic study. The results aren’t yet in. “What if the study" suggests gridlock? “Why would I want to be in a neighborhood where the residents think it’s a disaster?" he asked.

The shiny renderings of Newport occurred because FCC had a definite site and a memorandum of understanding with the property owners. The (seemingly) renewed interest in the West End happened because, because…

“We announced three neighborhoods would be considered, and we have not shifted," said Berding. OK, but as far as most can tell, the West End has been so far out on the edge of the discussion, we needed a GPS to find it.

Head, thine axis is rotating.

Now, the West End fathers are mad and feeling left out of the loop. "People feel disrespected and ignored," said Keith Blake, the president of the West End Community Council.

(By the way, Berding said the futbol club has not taken an option on land down there. “The notion I’ve signed options is just not true," Berding said. “We’ve had some conversations with people in the West End about potential options and what they would look like.")

Berding said MLS is not influencing anything. He said that regardless of where the stadium is built (if the MLS awards Cincinnati a team) there will be “full level community engagement. People are going to feel like they’re partners in this."

More: FC Cincinnati President/General Manager Jeff Berding spotted at MLS event in Philadelphia

More: FC Cincinnati might not learn its MLS expansion fate for a while

Personally, I feel my eyes glazing over like a Krispy Kreme doughnut.

“We’re about making our community better," Berding told the Enquirer. "Our vision is to have institutions and people working together to improve facilities, programs, neighborhoods and ultimately lives."

Great. Can you do something about the streetcar?

I’m guessing most people living in the West End neighborhood would be just as happy with a big, new Kroger.

“Until a deal is done, it can be undone. We appreciate people’s patience," said Berding.

Stay tuned. If you want to.