11:38am: A 2-0 vote (with one abstention) has taken place to approve the framework of the new lease agreement, ESPN’s Ben Baby notes. As a result, the Bengals are indeed on track to remain in in place through at least 2036.
10:52am: As expected, the Bengals are set to remain in Cincinnati well beyond 2025. A new lease agreement has been reached between the team and Hamilton County, as first reported by Jason Williams of the Cincinnati Enquirer. 
Final approval will not be voted on today, per an announcement from administrator Jeff Aluotto. Nonetheless, unanimous approval from the county’s commissioners is expected. If/when the new lease is in place, speculation about a potential relocation – which picked up in April amidst a lack of progress in negotiations between the parties – will come to an end. June 30 loomed as the deadline for a deal to be struck, and while nothing is official yet it is clear major progress toward a long-term arrangement has been made.
Providing details on the new proposal, Williams’ colleagues Erin Glynn and Quinlan Bentley note the lease in question will be 10 years in length (the existing one runs through 2025). The option also exists for as many as five two-year extensions to be exercised, meaning the Bengals will remain at Paycor Stadium well into the 2030s provided final approval is received. While $830MM in stadium renovations were initially planned, that figure now sits at $470MM.
To no surprise, the split between private and public funding was a point of contention during negotiations. Per the Enquirer report, $350MM in stadium funds will come from the county with the remaining $120MM being contributed by the Bengals. That 75-25 split comes after the previous agreement saw Hamilton County take on an 88% share of costs to the stadium project.
“It’s not perfect, but as often is the case in in tough negotiations, no one leaves the table thinking they got the perfect deal,” Aluotto said when speaking about the proposal agreement (h/t Sports Illustrated’s Jay Morrison). “And I think as you’ll hear, it’s a better deal, a smarter deal than what was done under the previous lease. I’m hoping the team would concur with that.”
The two-year extensions are again the Bengals’ prerogative, Morrison notes. Interestingly, though, he adds the first one will become mandatory if the team reaches the top 24 in terms of revenue amongst the NFL’s 32 clubs. In any event, the team’s future for at least the next 11 years will be assured once the proposed deal receives final approval.
Good for them. The Bengals belong in Cincinnati.
here really should be a statue of Sam Wyche at the stadium entrance with the words “You don’t live in Cleveland’ inscribed.
I wonder if this had something to do with the contract holdups, they had to sell the naming rights for Burrows contracts. I sort of doubt it but you never know.
I was thinking the same thing. It may have, but it sounds like the Bengals want to add a new void option into their new contracts (like most of the the other teams in the league have). Who knows.
More welfare checks for billionaires…..
Yeah, the county doesn’t benefit whatsoever. The tens of thousands of people coming to the games don’t park in city owned garages, purchase anything in the shops, stay in hotels or buy food in restaurants. (All of which is taxed also) Nope, no revenue there. The Bengal players don’t pay city taxes, oh I guess I was wrong, they do). Surely the Bengals don’t pay property taxes on their facilities, yeah, they do. But it’s welfare for billionaires. If corporations didn’t pay a crap ton of taxes your tax rates would double and then you would bitch about that.
Economists have proven time and again that these stadiums are a bad deal for taxpayers.
We both understand that you can find an expert on anything to say the other side is wrong. If the Bengals and/or the Reds ever left Cincinnati the downtown would be devastated. I remember when Vine St. was crawling with hookers and drug dealers and you definitely didn’t go downtown after dark. It was even scary to go to Skywalk Cinemas or Newberrys. The city has revitalized itself in part because there are places to go after the games and hang out, or before the games to get dinner. All that renewal doesn’t happen without those two sports teams to anchor the entire thing. Someday the Reds may move or the Bengals, and slowly but surely the downtown area will fall back into a no go zone like it was when all the big department stores closed and moved to the suburbs.
Ah, you’re one of those folks. Now I know to just move past your posts.
You even from a city?
Billj- One of those folks with common sense? Yeah, I’m one of THOSE people. I’ve been in way to many courtrooms and watched “experts” on both sides of a court case come to exactly opposite conclusions with the same set of circumstances. So yeah, I’m skeptical of “experts” on either side. Since you aren’t I have to conclude you’re one of THOSE people and I can just ignore your biased arguments.
The Raiders stadium in LV has brought big money in, including the Draft and a SuperBowl. No public money was used, there was a tax on hotel rooms. Not sure what “experts” you’re talking about.
But yeah, having an NFL team brings in big money in taxes, as well as lots of jobs. The whole billionaire thing is an online narrative one political party likes to push. The Brown family are billionaires on paper but cash poor (relative to other NFL owners).
@jorge78 But don’t forget that the owner of the Bengals is JUST a lowly millionaire. He has it rough.
Literally a story on the same page questions if they’re leaving Cincinnati. Well done.
Yeah, almost like the prior story was leaked for pressure (obviously, this is partly sarcastic, partly not)…but I we all expected this outcome.
Off-subject, but didn’t Burrow say he would restructure his contract to help sign his pals? So the team would have more cash? Is that even possible? Did he even say that? ha. I am getting old.
As an Eagles fan it would be easy for me to say teams like Cincinnati are so dumb for not pretty much copying the Eagles strategy of adding void years, paying early, converting salaries to signing bonuses etc. Burrow himself did say “The Eagles are paying everybody”. The one thing everyone forgets is that to structure these big ticket deals and keep your cap under control, lots of bonuses or salary has to immediately go into an escrow account. That requires an owner that’s cool with tying up lots of cash. I just don’t think most teams have owners who can or want to do that with their money. Burrow restructuring requires more salary converted to cash bonuses, even though it could help their cap