Even though I’m a fan, the Cincinnati Bengals’ stadium is certainly not that impressive when compared to other cities. I recall going to Acrisure Stidium (formerly Heinz Field before the NFL went bananas with endorsements) and thinking how much more impressive it was that the concrete shell that was Paycor Stadium. Obviously a big part of that is the history that the Steelers have built over several dominant decades but an even bigger part is simple: funding.
Bengals Receive Huge Sum from Hamilton County
According to reporter Chelsea Sick with Local 12, the Hamilton County Commissioners Office has allocated $39 million for improvements to the stadium over the 2024 offseason. Cincinnati’s stadium has seen an influx of cash following the endorsement deal with Paycor but is still in desperate need of improvements.
“It’s the taxpayers’ asset,” Commission VP Denise Driehaus told reporters “The team plays there. We all want it to be in good shape, so we should all participate in fixing it and making sure it’s up to speed.”
While significant capital has been spent on the stadium in the past few years, $4 million of the funding will be focused on improving the club seats. The plan was approved by the commissioners office on Thursday morning.
The Brown family has attempted to invest a much larger sum of money into the stadium after the influx of money from the endorsement deal as well as the influx from the county. The deal was completed at the forefront of the upcoming releasing negotiations between the team and the Hamilton County Commissioners Office.
Ethics of Re-leasing Negotiations
Serious questions need to be made into how much teams can get away with during these lease agreements. During the last major round of negotiations throughout the United States, host cities were completely taken advantage of as most cities essentially offered to pay for the construction of brand new stadiums with little incentive.
Many fans of the team are clamoring for the Hamilton County Commissioners to take a harder stand this time around after a similar push was made for the construction of Paul Brown Stadium (Now Paycor Stadium) in 1998. Owner Mike Brown, like many other owners across the NFL, threatened to move the city to another city and promised the economic advantages of an NFL team to the city. In return, the Commissioners essentially promised to build the entire stadium at cost as well as not take in any of the revenue from football games (all at the taxpayers dime I might add).
While as a fan I greatly enjoy the team located in Cincinnati, the product that they have put on the field has not been good enough to provide the passive revenue that Brown offered the city. Hopefully the Commissioners office pushes back harder on the Brown family so that the team will be responsible for more of the upkeep to the city. This would allow a far more fair agreement that will make the fans happier in the long run as they won’t see tax increases just to see the Bengals revenue exponentially increase.
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