The Cincinnati Bengals could be on the move to a new city if the team can't renew its lease with Paycor Stadium.
The Athletic's Paul Dehner Jr. reported that an upcoming deadline for lease renewal with the venue has left the team's future in Cincinnati in flux.
"A June 30 deadline to exercise the first of five two-year rolling extensions of the Paycor Stadium lease approaches," Dehner Jr. wrote. "It will be an inflection point for keeping the Bengals on The Banks in downtown Cincinnati."
While Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn said the franchise loves where it is, the possibility of moving is apparently not off the table if the lease with Paycor Stadium expires on June 30, 2026.
“We could, I guess, go wherever we wanted after this year if we didn’t pick the option up,” Blackburn said, via The Athletic. “We’ll see. Like I said, all these things will be done in due course. We are having discussions, and so we’re hopeful that the county is thinking about it a lot, too, and wants to get it addressed in a way that would be beneficial to both of us.”
While it's not the most likely scenario for the Bengals to uproot and move elsewhere, it's still fun to speculate on the possibilities! Let's run down five cities that would make sense as new homes for the team if this all fell through.
San Antonio
The Bengals joining the Spurs as San Antonio's marquee sporting team feels much more likely than you'd think. Texas adding a third NFL team might seem excessive, but Florida has three, too.
San Diego
San Diego lost the Chargers to Los Angeles, but could the Bengals be the city's NFL replacement? Of course, San Diego is one of the nation's more beautiful cities and already has the MLB with the Padres.
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City feels like a really nice option if the Bengals moved. The Thunder have owned the sports market in the area for quite some time, but the Bengals and the Thunder together would be quite a pair for city fans.
Salt Lake City
