On 6/14/2025 at 10:56 AM, sparky151 said:

The Bengals ownership is definitely farting around on it. They want credit for money they spend years ago toward the proposal for upgrades to the stadium. That's basically a non-starter since the task is to come up with 830 million dollars of new money. So they claim they are contributing 200 mil but it's 155 of new money with 45 mil in credit for past contributions since the stadium opened. Even if you agreed with that it would be 200 mil of a total of 875 or 23% of the total. The Haslams are paying 50% of the total for their stadium plus all overruns.

Bengals offer isn't serious at this point.

sort of.. they arent competing with cleveland.. they are competing with leaving. there are better markets out there, and likely huge money on the table. biggest problem is no one expects them to leave..

5 hours ago, GoBengals said:

sort of.. they arent competing with cleveland.. they are competing with leaving. there are better markets out there, and likely huge money on the table. biggest problem is no one expects them to leave..

Interesting point.

If they did move (God forbid) the question

becomes would you root for them or against them?

2 hours ago, High School Harry said:

Interesting point.

If they did move (God forbid) the question

becomes would you root for them or against them?

If the Bengals moved to another city, they would be dead to me. It would be hard to root against the current players, but it would be REALLY EASY to root against Mike Brown, Katie, and the rest of the front office.

I'm old enough to remember when the Cincinnati Royals Basketball team moved to Kansas City. After they left, I stopped following the NBA.

2 hours ago, High School Harry said:

Interesting point.

If they did move (God forbid) the question

becomes would you root for them or against them?

Not directed at me, but this is a question I've thought about before.

I don't live in Cincinnati, so a location change wouldn't impact me as much as other posters on the board...the way I look at it is if they at least retained their identity (example: San Antonio Bengals), I'd still root for them.

If they were to completely change their identity along with location (example: Cleveland Browns --> Baltimore Ravens, Houston Oilers -->Tennessee Titans)? Forget it, I probably wouldn't be a fan of any team anymore. Sounds dramatic, but that would leave a large hole in my life, given how much I follow this team and their history. I would be bitter, but would probably still watch the NFL at large for entertainment/fantasy purposes.

11 hours ago, GoBengals said:

sort of.. they arent competing with cleveland.. they are competing with leaving. there are better markets out there, and likely huge money on the table. biggest problem is no one expects them to leave..

They aren't leaving because doing so would require the Brown family to offer the team for sale to someone who will keep it in Cincinnati. Some billionaire somewhere would offer to buy the club for the 4 or 5 billion it's worth now. He'd offer to cover half the cost of the upgrades or of a new stadium and the county would be happy to strike a fair deal with him after years of the Brown family sucking the taxpayer's teat.

An attempt to move the team might be a best case scenario for fans and the local government. That's why the team is more likely to extend the current lease than let it expire. The current deal is extremely team friendly and dates to the Bedinghaus days on the county commission. The current commissioners are in no mood to give away taxpayer money to the family.

9 hours ago, Arkansas Bengal said:

If the Bengals moved to another city, they would be dead to me. It would be hard to root against the current players, but it would be REALLY EASY to root against Mike Brown, Katie, and the rest of the front office.

I'm old enough to remember when the Cincinnati Royals Basketball team moved to Kansas City. After they left, I stopped following the NBA.

Nailed it on all counts.

Just for context I'm not a big Kelsey Conway fan, but she did do a sort of "mailbag" Q/A this morning regarding the stadium. Not saying she knows things that nobody else does, just interesting to see others thoughts on the matter.

The team isn't going anywhere. If a new deal isn't done by June 30, the team will likely exercise their first two year option. But they don't want to do it now since it reduces the "urgency" of getting a deal done on the stadium upgrades they want.

The state legislature finished the state budget last night with the Senate proposal to take money from unclaimed funds paying for the Browns stadium, and likely for the Bengals as well. The House had proposed bonds for stadiums but that's dead. The governor wanted an increase in taxes on online gambling and he can line item veto the unclaimed funds if he wants but can't put the tax increase into the bill.

It looks like the free money pot of unclaimed funds will pay for a quarter of the Browns dome and probably a good chunk of the $830 mil for Paycor upgrades. Hamilton county was asking for a state contribution of 350 mil.

On 6/17/2025 at 10:57 AM, sparky151 said:

The current deal is extremely team friendly and dates to the Bedinghaus days on the county commission.

Isn't he the one that grabbed ankles as a commissioner to sell out the county, then immediately quit to take a cushy job with the team?

It sounds like the new budget amended the Art Modell law. They could now move within the state of Ohio without having to offer the city a chance to purchase the team. This is how the Haslam's are going to move the Browns from Cleveland to Brook Park. So.... Columbus Bengals??

NBC Sports

Ohio legislature clears path for Browns to leave Clevelan...

Legislature opens door for Browns to move to Brook Park.

53 minutes ago, BBR said:

So.... Columbus Bengals??

That is funny…if you are joking?

Franklin County cannot tie their own shoes. Columbus pols are feckless. Any stadium would have to be suburban, and the infrastructure—especially roads—are shit.

Since western Licking County has been torn to hell from the Intel boondoggle, there is that space maybe?

Let’s do it! 😄

2 hours ago, Le Tigre said:

That is funny…if you are joking?

Franklin County cannot tie their own shoes. Columbus pols are feckless. Any stadium would have to be suburban, and the infrastructure—especially roads—are shit.

Since western Licking County has been torn to hell from the Intel boondoggle, there is that space maybe?

Let’s do it! 😄

They have the Columbus Buckeyes to take care of anyways.

6 hours ago, T-Dub said:

Isn't he the one that grabbed ankles as a commissioner to sell out the county, then immediately quit to take a cushy job with the team?

OT and will delete..

Hey, Dr Dub,

How did you implant the gif?

The icon on my screen(s) do not show anything.

TYVM

(pay-walled)

😯

22 minutes ago, Griever said:

Maybe they can finance Trey Hendrickson's new contract, too.

And offer Shemar Steward a job as a parking lot attendant at

the Fountain Square garage.