Byline: Todd Jones, Post staff reporter
Georgetown College president William Crouch and other officials from the school in Scott County, Ky. are scheduled to present a proposal to the Bengals Monday to become the team's training camp site in 1997.
''They're looking for our input,'' said Bengals business manager Bill Connelly. ''We want to see how quickly they can get something up and ready to move into.''
Connelly said the meeting is the next step in negotiations between the two sides. ''I don't expect we'll make a decision on Monday,'' Connelly said.
Georgetown, located 75 miles south of Cincinnati, is intriguing to the Bengals as a training camp site because it would allow the team to market itself in central Kentucky and previously untapped markets such as Lexington and Louisville.
Monday will be the first meeting between Georgetown and Bengals officials since Connelly visited the school May 7 and outlined what the team needs from the school in terms of facilities for a four-week training camp.
A day after Connelly's visit, Crouch presented a report to government and business leaders in Scott County and the city of Georgetown. The report said that in order to become the Bengals' new training site the school will need to build a football field with 7,000 seats, two additional practice fields, 100 air-conditioned dormitory rooms with private baths and a 125-seat auditorium.
Georgetown spokesperson Emily Williams said drawings of the school's planned facilities will be shown to the Bengals Monday.
Connelly said the Bengals have been told by Georgetown that the team would not have to help pay for the new facilities. Other facilities the school reportedly needs to provide are: six classrooms for 25 people each; a training room for 15 offensive linemen, a weight room the size of a basketball court, a cafeteria, and two locker rooms.
''Once they get their plans in place they have to bid or contract those out to get them built,'' Connelly said. ''This is an idea and vision they have for (building new facilities for the school) anyway and we're acting as a catalyst to get some things done. They plan to come with maybe a cursory or defined view of what they intend to build. It comes down to how quickly they can build it.''
Connelly said no deadline has been set for making a decision on the '97 training camp site. The Bengals will hold training camp at Wilmington College this summer for the 29th consecutive year, and hasn't ruled out returning to Wilmington for '97.
The Bengals also are considering these schools as training camp sites in '97: Findlay College and Bluffton College in Ohio, and Hanover College in Indiana.
