The New Bengals Stadium Plan Has An Old Bengals Problem
Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
Buckle up, Cincinnati Bengals fans and Hamilton County taxpayers, a new stadium plan has entered the chat.
The big-time rennovations would include three LED video boards to cover the exterior walls, the relocation of Mehring Way, and a transformation of The Kettering Health Practice Field to include a building to house the Bengals’ administration offices, an indoor practice facility, and a 2,000-seat grandstand for fans who want to attend training camp.
As far as the gameday football experience goes, the plan calls for three new mid-level clubs, a food hall and event space for conferences at the club level, a “party deck” around the food hub and event space, a field level club and designated area named “Hall of Champions.”
It all sounds wonderful, but as always with the Bengals, the issue is simple: Who will pay for it?
The Bengals are historically one of the cheapest franchises in sports history. Mike Brown has time and again displayed an unwillingness to extend his financial investment in the club beyond his shrewd comfort zone. One could, in theory, argue it’s not completely unfounded. According to Sportico, the Bengals are the lowest-valued club in the NFL at $4.7 billion and they had the third-lowest revenue in the league last season. But as Buffalo Bills and Sabres owner Terry Pegula once said, “If I want to some make money, I’ll go drill a gas well.” If you want to be safe and frugal, why are you buying a football team?
Brown’s unwillingness to spend big might meet head-on with a fanbase that doesn’t wanna do his financial dirty work no more. With each passing year, city and state governments (and their citizens) have become less willing to fund sports stadiums. Yes, the deals still find a way to get done, but the old days of threatening to move and getting these proposals easily pushed through evaporated with the advent of social media and our current everyone-has-a-voice society.
The Commissioner’s office is trying their best to get out in front of it. “Our board has said we want to diversify the funding so don’t get into this, ‘Oh lord, this cost, is it going to take my house?’ No. I know I’m not supporting anything that will increase taxes,” Commissioner Alicia Reese explained.
Easier said than done.
Sure, this city would love to see their beloved team play in a world-class facility. But Brown and the organization don’t have their fans’ trust. They might be surprised at the pushback they’re about to receive from a base that doesn’t believe the purse strings will open if they give up their tax dollars.
The new building proposal is beautiful, but the organization has a lot of work to be do to convince everyone that if they give Brown what he wants, he will give them a winner in return.
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