Maintenance workers will have barely finished sweeping up the peanut shells and hot dog wrappers from today's final Reds home game of the season when the demolition of the back end of Cinergy Field will begin.

        Arnie Rosenberg of Parsons Brinckerhoff, project manager for the demolition of part of Cinergy Field and construction of a new Reds ballpark next door, said that early Monday morning, crews would start the work that will result in the removal of about 14,000 red- and green-level seats by the time the Reds' 2001 season begins next April.

        That section of the stadium — from the fair-territory side of the left-field foul pole to straight-away right field — has to go to allow construction of the Great American Ball Park to begin.

        The Reds hope to move into their new $280 million, 42,500-seat home in April 2003.

        People passing Cinergy Field won't notice much difference until late October, when the actual demolition work is to begin.

        Mr. Rosenberg said that Monday morning, crews inside the stadium will begin erecting the hand rails and barriers they need to construct before they can begin removing the seating and light fixtures.

        All the salvage materials, including the seats, will belong to the demolition contractors, Mr. Rosenberg said.

        “They may well end up selling off a lot of the material,” Mr. Rosenberg said.

        The long, slow process of shoring up the ballpark on each side of the “bite” and the actual knocking down of sections of the ballpark with a wrecking ball will not begin until at least late October, Mr. Rosenberg said.

        The work will continue during the winter and should be completed in February.

        What fans will see when they stream into Cinergy Field for Opening Day next April is a stadi um with about 42,000 seats for baseball that will be open-ended, with a view of Fort Washington Way, Mount Adams and lots of construction cranes for the new ballpark.

        “Weather could have a lot to do with the timetable; a bad winter could slow things down,” Mr. Rosenberg said. “But we're confident we can have the ballpark ready to go by Opening Day.”

        The Reds are looking at the possibility of replacing the artificial surface of Cinergy Field with natural grass by Opening Day, but Reds officials say they will need to have the demolition work done for at least a month before Opening Day to lay sod and let it grow.

        Mr. Rosenberg said his company is working with the Reds to complete the project “so they can go to grass if that's what they decide to do.”

        Taxpayers agreed in 1996 to foot the bill for both a new Reds ballpark and a new Bengals stadium. The Reds say the extra revenue from the new $280 million ballpark will allow them to compete with Major League Baseball teams in bigger markets.

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