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Bengals Unveil Renderings for $1.2B Proposed Stadium Renovations in Video, Photos

Julia Stumbaugh

The administration of Hamilton County, Ohio, on Tuesday looked at renderings and plans for $1.2 billion in planned renovations to the Cincinnati Bengals' Paycor Stadium.

The renderings show more green spaces surrounding the arena, as well as an indoor practice facility beside the stadium.

The projections show Central Avenue, the road which Bengals players must cross to reach the team practice fields from Paycor, transformed into a pedestrian walkway.

Whether the proposed renovations will be privately or publicly funded depends on ongoing lease negotiations between the team and the county, Scott Wartman and Sharon Coolidge reported for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The lease is currently set to expire on June 30, 2026, but that deadline could be pushed back in the short term via two-year extensions. If unable to settle on a longer-term extension, the Bengals will need to decide whether to exercise the first of five possible extensions by June 2025.

The plan proposed on Tuesday did not specify who would pay for the proposed renovations, but Hamilton County commission president Alicia Reece told attendees the new arrangement would be different than the county's last agreement with the Bengals.

The Bengals stadium has been mostly publicly funded since county voters approved a half-cent sales tax increase in an effort to keep the team in Cincinnati in 1996. Reece has previously said that the venue receives 95 percent of its funding from public money.

Taxpayers have since then contributed more than $1 billion to the stadium when taking into account original construction, renovations and interest payments, per Jason Williams of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

"The current funding model, we can't go back to that," Reece said before Tuesday's meeting, per Dan Monk and Paula Christian of WCPO.

Reece has previously said she wants the NFL to contribute $100 million to the project alongside funding from the county, state and team.

In addition to the changes to the space outside the stadium, the renderings presented by Cincinnati architect MSA Sport propose in-arena changes. These include a larger scoreboard, as well as more seats on the north side of the stadium to give the venue 360-degree seating, per Wartman and Coolidge.

The architects also proposed an increase in club and suite seatings, but not an increase in overall stadium capacity.

Which changes end up being put into effect at Paycor Stadium will depend on upcoming lease negotiations and the determination of which parties will pay for the renovations.

   

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