S2 Ep57: That's So Cincinnati: Reds President Phil Castellini talks his dad, Thom Brennaman, Opening Day 2021 outlook

It's the offseason, and Reds President Phil Castellini has some time to reflect.

In a candid, hourlong discussion on The Enquirer's That's So Cincinnati podcast, Castellini covered a wide range of topics, including:

 • His strong bond with his father, Reds owner Bob Castellini, and their passion for Cincinnati sports

• Lessons from working for his father's companies since he was a teenager, when he started as a laborer in the produce distribution and warehouse businesses

• Thom Brennaman's future, and why Phil Castellini believes the broadcaster will be back in the TV booth someday

• The pandemic's likely impact on Opening Day 2021

Here are some snippets from Phil Castellini's interview:

Father-son bonding 

Growing up in Glendale ... late grade school into high school. We had season tickets to the Reds and Bengals and at the time, we were also involved (as part-owners) in the Cincinnati Stingers, the hockey team. We went to every Stinger home game. I got to go to the two Bengals Super Bowls. I went to the ice bowl, you know that famous deep-chill freezer playoff game against the Chargers. A lot of going to games with dad, especially on the football front. We had a special connection through all of our sports teams.

'Work as hard as he did'

Before I had a driver's license, I rode a moped from Glendale to Lockland to cut cabbage at our salad processing plant. And when I was old enough to drive, I would drive downtown to work on the docks of the produce company. At this time of year, I would be doing Christmas trees from October to December. All the way through college, I worked for the family businesses. 

Dad worked seven days a week, 12 hours a day. The only thing that you thought about if you were Bob Castellini's family is you were going to work as hard as he did. 

If you're raised in the executive office and you always live in the executive office and you never went down to the production floor, you have a hard time relating to that whole spectrum. That is the biggest benefit of working in and up through any company, whether it's a family company or not. That perspective is really important later in one's career if you continue to manage people and processes.

Buying the Reds in 2006

Dad sees an article in the paper that the final three bidders on the team, none of the groups are from Cincinnati. He's like, "Wait a second. We can't have somebody buy the Reds that's not from Cincinnati." If you remember back in '05, there's still talk of you can pick up a team and move them somewhere. That's certainly something we never wanted to see happen. He gets a hold of Tom and Joe Williams and says, "Hey guys, what do you think about putting in a bid for the team?" He saw Mr. (Carl) Lindner at a game that August and said, "What would you think if we threw our hat in the ring quickly?" He said, "That's great, but the final bids are due in the next two weeks and everybody else has been doing their homework since March." So we asked for a two-week extension, which was granted. We wound up doing all the research and getting a handshake to buy the team in 30 days. It was a pretty wild ride.

Watching a Reds game with his dad

Sometimes by the third inning, you don't want to be anywhere near dad depending on how the game's going. Every pitch, every out, every at-bat, it is an emotional roller coaster. You could not have anybody more dialed in than he is. We keep trying to tell him, 'It's a long season, relax.' But that's just the way he is in life and business. That's his DNA. I don't think it's that great for his health, but that's the way the guy is wired. It's a great passion.

Thom Brennaman's future

Brennaman last month resigned from Reds' TV play-by-play job following a suspension for using a homophobic slur on air.

He's as good as anybody in the business, in my opinion. It was just an all around tragic situation. It's something that shouldn't be thought, much less said out loud. Thom knows that. We all know that. In today's day and age, there's a zero tolerance approach to that. That's just not something you have associated with your organization. He knew exactly what the organization had to do and why. We were at the end of a contract year. That's when he came to us and said, "I think I need to move on and repair my own damage done." He's done a ton of that and is making a lot of great relationships. He's certainly had an eye-opening, soul-searching experience of his own. You will see Thom back in a broadcast booth.

Likely not (with the Reds). I just mean as a broadcaster because the guy can do any sport. He's got that kind of talent. I think it'll do him well to have some time off. But yeah, I absolutely expect that we will all see Thom somewhere again as a broadcaster of live sports. 

The Brennamans have been such an amazing part of the Reds history. We'll be inducting his dad (Marty) into the Reds Hall of Fame next year. You'll definitely see Thom be a part of that ceremony.

Hoping for some fans at Opening Day

This thing's going to go on well into '21. I think we all understand it's just a reality. We're going to re-submit (to the state) at maybe closer to 30 percent (stadium capacity), which would be about 13,000 or 14,000. What I would prefer is turn off the protocols. We the operators are going to have to show you a COVID-safe park. Even without the protocols, these buildings are going to empty themselves by fan interest. The average age of my fan is 56 years old. Even if I had no regulations, I'm going to have a change in my consumption just by the nature of people's comfort level of going out to large venues with a lot people. As a society, certainly from a business environment, we have to learn to live with COVID – not hide from it.

I don't have enough reasons to be optimistic about a 50% capacity by Opening Day. I think maybe by the All-Star break, it seems more reasonable.

Opening Day parade a 'huge wild card'

Are you better off punting on an event and waiting to bring it back the way everybody's used to consuming it rather than bringing it back in this candy-coated, super-weird COVID way that it's just going to be kind of a letdown? I will tell you the answer to that question that we asked ourselves starting with RedsFest was, I'd rather wait and do it the way we know how to do it and the way the fans like to consume it than to have everybody walking around in bubble suits. I'm not sure where the Findlay Market folks will be feeling by then, but I think it's a huge wild card at this point.