Colvin ruled that the heirs of the late Paul Brown were not liable for $40 million sought by the Internal Revenue Service, due to a dispute over Paul Brown's acquisition of team shares held formerly by John Sawyer. In United States Tax Court in Chicago, Judge John O. On April 29, the Bengals received a favorable ruling in a tax case that had threatened the viability of the franchise. It was announced on May 29 that the facility would be named Paul Brown Stadium, with the Bengals agreeing to cover $5 million for the loss of potential corporate naming rights. On May 29, the 30-year Bengals lease was completed and signed. A drawback for the development of the more western football site was that some of the needed land was not owned by the county, and that would lead to future delays, as well as higher costs than the Bengals' preferred site. The Bengals yielded to County wishes for a site one block farther west than the club's preferred spot, supporting the goal of opening central riverfront space for development of other attractions and neighborhoods between a football and a baseball stadium (though the baseball site had yet to be agreed upon.). 13, the Bengals and Hamilton County reached tentative agreement on a western riverfront site for a new football stadium. 9, Riverfront Stadium was re-named Cinergy Field, as the energy utility Cinergy reached a $6 million naming rights deal with Hamilton County to cover the stadium's remaining years of use. The new stadium's name also remained undecided, but early public response showed strong support for naming it after Bengals founder Paul Brown. Both public polls and experts' recommendations indicated a preference for a riverfront site, but the question remained undecided as the year ended. The Bengals pushed vigorously for a riverfront site, opposing proposals to build in the Broadway Commons area just northeast of downtown. 10, the Bengals reached preliminary agreement with Hamilton County on a 30-year lease, for an as-yet unnamed and un-sited stadium. The vote came after vigorous public debate, and the Cincinnati Post termed it a "landslide victory" for backers of the issue. The biggest step came on March 19, when Hamilton County voters approved by 61-to-39 percent a measure to fund new Bengals and Reds stadiums with a half-cent sales tax increase. Progress continued to be forged on the Bengals' efforts to secure their future in Cincinnati with a new stadium. In October, Mike Brown announced that the Bengals for 1996 would move most of their front-office operation from Riverfront Stadium to the team's new practice facility building at Spinney Field. But after the County Commission voted to implement the tax, forces opposed to the increase successfully petitioned to make approval subject to a public referendum to be held in March of 1996. In the end that proposal was scaled down to a one-half percent hike, funding stadiums and also providing homeowners with property tax relief. On June 28, just minutes before a Bengals-set deadline, Cincinnati City Council voted 5-4 to approve a Hamilton County plan from Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus to raise the county sales tax by one percent to fund two new stadiums. But Brown repeatedly professed he had no desire to move the team unless forced to by an untenable local situation. A lack of progress on the local front led club president Mike Brown to explore the possibility of a move to Baltimore, pressed by a deadline on Baltimore's end. The year of 1995 was filled with issues regarding the Bengals' need for a new stadium.
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