The most important aspect of Bengals' agreement with Hamilton County over Paycor Stadium is very simple
A "memorandum of understanding" was reached between the Cincinnati Bengals and Hamilton County Tuesday in regards to extending the Bengals' lease at Paycor Stadium prior to the June 30 deadline, as first reported by the Cincinnati Business Courier. It's not important that anyone knows what a "memorandum of understanding" is exactly. What is important is the fact […]
A "memorandum of understanding" was reached between the Cincinnati Bengals and Hamilton County Tuesday in regards to extending the Bengals' lease at Paycor Stadium prior to the June 30 deadline, as first reported by the Cincinnati Business Courier.
It's not important that anyone knows what a "memorandum of understanding" is exactly. What is important is the fact that the NFL club located in downtown Cincinnati and the County officials who govern that location seem to be on the same page.
And that was not a given prior to Tuesday's report.
Bengals, Hamilton County agreeing to work together is all that matters
The lease of Paycor Stadium, the home of the Bengals since 2000 when it was originally named after team founder Paul Brown, is set to expire June 30, 2026. An agreement to extend the lease another two years needs to be reached exactly one year ahead of time, or the expiration date will be locked in.
Hamilton County agreed to the original lease back in 1996. Nearly 30 years later, the deal is viewed as a major win for the team while the County ended up paying for more than they were expected to do so.
When both sides were set to come back to the table and negotiate the future of the team's whereabouts, this history was set to lurk in the background and fuel the County to not give in to whatever the club demanded. It owes its taxpayers as much to work toward a deal constituents would approve.
Essentially, both sides reached an agreement about a future agreement, which signals a fair deal is what's to be expected.
The goal is a total stadium renovation project that would cost $830 million. The agreement reached this week specifically entails $184 million in upgrades will be committed to the venue. $120 million will be covered by the Bengals, and the rest is to be funded by the county according to Cincinnati.com.
It's the first phase of the full renovation project that's expected to be completed by 2029, three years after the current lease is set to expire.
It's progress, and any progress is good in this situation.
