PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Cincinnati Bengals' Paycor Stadium lease with Hamilton County is the biggest non-football question surrounding the team this offseason.
The deadline is looming as the current lease expires on June 30, 2026, but the team can opt for five two-year extensions and would have to submit written notification to Hamilton County at least 12 months prior. In short, the Bengals have until June 30 this year to decide if they want to take their first two-year extension to stay put at Paycor Stadium.
Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn answered several questions about the stadium lease at the NFL’s annual meetings on Tuesday. Blackburn was asked specifically if the deadline is putting pressure on a deal to come together soon.
“We play it day by day, and like everything else, we just continue to have discussions, see where things are, and then have to make decisions at the appropriate time,” Blackburn said.
Where Bengals stand on Paycor Stadium
The ideal scenario for both sides is that Paycor Stadium stays where it is, and a long-term deal is reached. But there’s a process to it and Blackburn says the resolution will come in due time.
“We love where we are,” Blackburn said. “I'm (a) very big proponent of being in the downtown. I think that's a great thing for the city. I think (the) location (of the) stadium right now is good. Our stadium obviously needs to continue to be maintained appropriately, and you want to keep it at a certain level that's important, just so that we're competitive with others. But you know, at the end of the day, we're playing it one day at a time, and it's just we have to see where it all goes.”
Paycor Stadium needs several updates and Hamilton County officials unveiled their highly anticipated renovation plan in September. Hamilton County estimates the renovations would cost up to $1.25 billion.
Blackburn acknowledged while the team is happy with some of the ideas presented to them, there’s still a lot of work to be done on how it could work.
“We've all been working really hard on looking at a lease extension and renovations that might be part of that,” Blackburn said. “And so, there are a lot of great ideas out there. It's just finding a way to bring it all together, make sure everyone's on the same page, and pulling it together. That we seem to have a lot of work to do to make that actually happen.”
Will the Bengals relocate after Paycor Stadium deal ends?
If the Bengals pick up their first two-year option by June 30, it speaks to their desire to stay where they are and a belief they can reach a long-term deal with Hamilton County. But if the team opts not to exercise their option to extend for two years, the future home of the Bengals will be in serious question.
When asked a hypothetical question about what happens if the team didn’t exercise their option, Blackburn didn’t rule ...
