Getty Cincinnati Bengals fans at PayCor Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Cincinnati Bengals have a team that is considered one of the NFL’s elite — not something the franchise could say for most of the last 30 years.
A team that good needs to make sure its home stadium keeps pace, something the Bengals showed they understand when they announced a $120 million upgrade to PayCor Stadium, with construction to run through 2026.
The move was announced on the team’s website.
“The Bengals are continuing to invest in our future here in Cincinnati,” executive vice president Katie Blackburn said in a press release on May 21. “We love our fans and can think of no better way to celebrate our 25th season in Paycor Stadium than to announce these major improvements that will make the gameday experience even better.”
The work on the stadium will encompass upgrades to the stadium’s video and audio systems, renovations to suites and club level lounges and concession stands, among other improvements.
The Bengals will use funds from the NFL’s G-5 loan program, and the announcement of the upgrade comes as the team and Hamilton County — where Cincinnati is located — try to come to an agreement that ends with the Bengals exercising a pair of five-year lease options that would keep the franchise at PayCor Stadium through 2036.
Negotiations Between Cincinnati, Bengals
According to ESPN’s Ben Baby, the Bengals have also invested “$40 million in private funds for the team’s indoor practice facility, training room and locker room, with the latter currently under construction.”
More from Baby: “In August 2023, Bengals vice president Troy Blackburn sent an email to county administrator Jeff Alutto regarding the lack of progress on those discussions, according to documents obtained through an open records request. Blackburn offered a couple of options to help fulfill short-term obligations, such as the ones mentioned in Tuesday’s release, as they continued conversations on a long-term deal.”
An Ode to Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium
Longtime NFL fans probably don’t think of PayCor Stadium when they think of the Bengals, who moved into their current home in 2000 and proceeded to reel off 7 consecutive AFC Wild Card losses sprinkled over the next two decades before making it to the Super Bowl following the 2021 season.
Old-school fans likely will first think of the Bengals’ home from 1970 to 1999 — Riverfront Stadium. The Bengals shared the stadium with the Cincinnati Reds, and won two AFC championships there in the 1980s.
In an interesting twist, the first touchdown scored at Riverfront Stadium in 1970 was by quarterback Sam Wyche, who would later become the Bengals’ head coach from 1984 to 1991. Wyche played in the NFL for 9 seasons from 1968 to 1976 and was an assistant coach for the San Francisco 49ers when they defeated the Bengals in Super Bowl XVI following the 1981 season.
When the Bengals made it back to Super Bowl XXIII following the 1988 season with Wyche as head coach, they lost to the 49ers again, this time on one of the greatest finishes in Super Bowl history — a 92-yard drive led by quarterback Joe Montana that ended with a touchdown pass to John Taylor with just 34 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
Wyche went on to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1992 to 1995 and spent the last few years before his death in 2020, at 74 years old, as an assistant coach near his home at Pickens (South Carolina) High School.