Bengals’ New Locker Room Is A Crucial Contending Piece
Courtesy of Cincinnati Bengals' Official Twitter
“I feel like I’m in Tron.”
That was the reaction from starting center and team spiritual leader Ted Karras, who was describing his feelings as he walked inside the Bengals’ new locker room for the first time. Fans also got their first look at the state-of-the-art facility on Tuesday morning.
CRIBS: Bengals Edition #RuleTheJungle pic.twitter.com/fQVSyiDIKN
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) July 30, 2024
(Side note — Bengals, if you’re going to give an MTV Cribs-style tour of your facilities, post a picture of the playing field at Paycor Stadium and say “This is where the magic happens.”)
Bengals’ director of strategy and engagement Elizabeth Blackburn partnered with Longhorn Locker Company LLC (or, as I like to call them, LLC LLC) to give the players a championship-caliber locker room.
“We aimed to modernize the locker room with technology and a clean, cool design,” Blackburn said. “This renovation built upon the locker room’s original football shape but increased the ceiling height along with several other modifications to further open up the space to create a connected feeling for the team. We hope it’s an energizing, high-end, professional setting for our players every day.”
The new facility includes, among other things: an LED lighting system that can be adjusted by a keyboard depending on the time of day, a football-shaped outline in the ceiling, and historical decor at every turn. Each of the 93 lockers includes charging ports, lockboxes, storage racks, shoe storage, and multiple drying fans for sweaty equipment.
“It’s amazing,” Tee Higgins said. “A lot more space. The lockers are nice. I think the guys will love it. They really outdid themselves. They took it to another level for sure.”
Longhorn Locker Company has an extensive list of top-tier football organizations that on their client list. They include the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, Los Angeles Rams, and Miami Dolphins. Alabama, Texas, and Clemson are among their collegiate clients; the latter of which, for some reason, includes this.
Coach Swinney wanted the best and most fun Football Ops Facility in the country…
Coming 1-26-17.
🔜😄 #SLIDE pic.twitter.com/Z3XDl02pDb
— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) December 14, 2016
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Despite the lack of a swing set or monkey bars, the Bengals’ new locker room is another crucial step in the right direction for building a championship franchise. Giving players a top-notch facility will give them everything they need to feel comfortable and succeed on game day. Current players will have a much easier and more comfortable time preparing for games, and prospective players will have another selling point to join the organization besides You get to play with Joe Burrow!
“There’s nothing like it in the world,” declared Sam Allen, owner of LLC, LLC. “It’s a locker designed only for them. What the Bengals have is the cutting edge. This [project was] the most intricate, most expensive, most involved, and required the greatest number of hours.”
Cincinnati has long been criticized for its lack of investment in its facilities. After the 2022-23 season, when the NFLPA did its first yearly report card, the Bengals received a D grade for their locker room. In addition to persistent plumbing issues with both the showers and the toilets, players specifically mentioned that they felt the locker room desperately needed to be renovated.
Those renovations have finally taken place, and players were very quickly thrilled with the results.
“It’s sick,” Joe Burrow said. “The more we continue to invest in stuff like this, the more comfortable the players are going to be. We’re going to love coming into work. I’m really happy with it. It’s quite an upgrade. Credit to ownership for putting this all together.”
The high-tech aspects of the facility are a significant upgrade over the previous Bengals’ locker room, which didn’t even include charging ports for players’ devices. It signifies that the Bengals’ ownership is finally investing in themselves to maintain a winning culture, especially now that they have arguably the most explosive quarterback-wide receiver duo in the league in Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase.
Blackburn’s vision of a sleek locker room that also honors the tradition of the franchise has impressed the players, the organization, and even the company who executed the renovation.
“(Elizabeth) really wanted it to have a unique luxury feel,” Sam Allen said.” She didn’t want to buy something that looked like it came off the shelf. She wanted to really customize it (for) them. It seemed like Elizabeth really had a great concept of how she wanted the elements of the Bengals tradition to be highlighted. There were a lot of things that she was very adamant that she wanted.”
Reviews of the toilets have yet to come out at the time of publication.
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