The Cincinnati Bengals have just over three months to decide the future of their home stadium. Bengals vice president Katie Blackburn made waves recently regarding her comments to the Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr.
“We could, I guess, go wherever we wanted after this year if we didn’t pick the option up,” Blackburn told Dehner in an article published earlier this month. “We’ll see. Like I said, all these things will be done in due course. We are having discussions, and so we’re hopeful that the county is thinking about it a lot, too, and wants to get it addressed in a way that would be beneficial to both of us.”
This comes months after the team hard launched their plans for a nearly $1.3 billion renovation to the 24-year-old stadium. The team now awaits approval from the Hamilton County Board as the owners are depending on tax payers in the area to foot a large chunk of the bill.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio has inserted his two cents on the Bengals stadium dilemma, taking to X to provide his input.
“The Bears have a stadium problem. The Bengals have a stadium problem. In theory, they could come together for a Chicagoland venue that would host 20 NFL games per year and pay for itself,” hypothesized Florio. “Here’s the point: If taxpayer money isn’t available for new stadiums in the current political climate, teams will need to get creative. Which could mean putting multiple teams in one stadium, wherever it’s feasible.”
The idea has been met with words like ‘ridiculous‘ and ‘absurd‘, while Florio himself admits it is a long shot.
Florio’s Justification
Though the cities are separated by nearly 300 miles, Florio points to cities like Los Angeles and New York that play host to multiple teams at the same venue.
“The market currently supports two teams in the sport that used to be America’s pastime,” wrote Florio regarding the city of Chicago’s ability to maintain multiple franchises. “And with the Bears getting nowhere when it comes to finagling taxpayer funding for a new stadium, the solution could come from having a second team play there.”
Florio continued his breakdown justifying a merger for the two teams struggling to find funding for their renovation projects.
“The chances of this actually happening are low,” he wrote. “In theory, it’s possible. And with the political winds blowing more and more strongly against subsidies for football teams worth upwards of $10 billion or beyond, it might take brash creativity to solve the current stadium situations for the Bears… and the Bengals”
Alternative Solutions For The Bengals
Though much has been made of the stadiums lease expiring, many outlets are making it known that this does not mean the lease ending on June 30th is do or die for the Bengals. The contract as currently agreed to has five possible two-year extensions capable of being exercised in times like this.
So while relocation is possible, but unlikely, and the city granting funding in the coming months seems to be the same, the most likely outcome is trending towards a two-year extension to keep the team at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati.
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Bengals and Bears Share A Stadium In Florio’s ‘Chicagoland’ Proposal