By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Bud Newhouse, President of High Signs Aerial Advertising, is feeling a pinch because of the new bans on aerial advertising over NFL, MLB, NCAA and NASCAR events. He is shown with one of his tow planes. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

Once omnipresent over Opening Day and other major events, planes pulling banners advertising everything under the sun as well as marriage proposals and even personal messages from ballplayers won't be there today when Great American Ball Park hosts its first official game.

The owners of such aerial advertising companies say the new federal ban on their product could put them out of business. While many are missing their first Opening Day in decades, they say they are prepared to fight by ratcheting up the rhetoric for their cause.

"When we started coming out against this, a lot of us came off as seeming selfish, but we're not - we realize what's going on in this country," said Bud Newhouse, who owns High Signs, a Lunken Airport-based aerial ad firm which has flown banners over the previous 14 Opening Days. "If this had anything to do with security, we would follow it with no problem. But we were already undergoing incredible background checks and security checks. And when teams like the Reds and others have been trying to get rid of us for years get a chance to do it by cloaking it in security, we have to stick up for our livelihood."

Congress has put a one-year ban on aerial advertisers flying over major outdoor sports stadiums that house more than 30,000 spectators . The ban is for any flights within three miles of such facilities that go below 3,000 feet, making a sign unreadable and worthless.

The ban is from one hour before a game until one hour after. It applies to Major League Baseball, the National Football League, any major auto race and NCAA Division I-A football. Other events, such as Riverfest and the Kentucky Derby, are still allowed but are to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration.

For businesses such as Newhouse's, that could be a death knell.

His company charges about $275 an hour during rush hour for a 120-foot banner with 40 characters. He has previously carried banners for Reds pitcher Jose Rijo and baseball broadcaster Marty Brennaman.

He says the ban will cost him in the $200,000 range of revenue this year and about 80 percent of his income.

Jim Miller, president of the U.S. Aerial Advertisers Association and owner of Air America in Toledo, said legislators, especially the provision's sponsor, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Michigan, were doing the bidding of large sporting interests. He said such leagues have been trying to get rid of banners for years, even before the Sept. 11 attacks, and accused Upton of doing the bidding of his alma mater, the University of Michigan.

"These stadium owners, trying to eliminate competition, are using lobbyists to take the nation's airspace and turn it over into the hands of the sporting interests, and they have succeeded," said Miller, whose eight-plane operation used to fly over just about every major event in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, including Reds, Bengals and Michigan games.

"They saw the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 as a way to feed into the emotions and politics of the situation and achieve their own personal agenda," said Miller, who anticipates a loss of $800,000 in revenue this year, or an 80 percent drop, because of the ban.

Upton's spokesman Sean Bonyun called the allegation "nonsense," saying the congressman actually proposed to his wife using such a banner at a Baltimore Orioles Major League Baseball game in 1986.

"Unfortunately, we live in a time when we need to be concerned about the lives and safety of our sports fans," Bonyun said. "It only takes one instance in a minute or two for a chemical or biological agent to wipe out an entire stadium. That's what this measure is seeking to prevent."

Officials from Major League Baseball and the Reds both said they thought that the overwhelming issue was security. But they also said neither was sorry to see the ads go.

"We lobbied on behalf of this, but it was primarily a security issue," MLB spokesman Richard Levin said. "But these planes can be disruptive to play - the skies around the World Series or All-Star games would be full of them."

Reds spokesman Rob Butcher said the team never had much of an issue with such advertisers, other than those for adult-oriented businesses.

"We didn't really pursue it to cease, but from the family aspect of the ballpark, we are happy that those types of ads won't fly anymore," Butcher said.

Miller and Newhouse both said they would continue to fight for the law to be rescinded, if they stay in business that long.

"This is incredibly frustrating to us, because most of us are military veterans. We could actually serve as a buffer zone, but instead, we're told we can't be trusted," Newhouse said. "If we can't get an injunction, and if we can't get it repealed next year, we might sue the government."

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E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com