Bengals sign lease for new stadium named after Paul Brown
Posted: May 29, 1997
at 7:24 p.m. EDT
The Cincinnati Bengals today signed a 30-year lease with
Hamilton County, Ohio for the new Cincinnati football stadium
and announced it will be named Paul Brown Stadium, in honor of
the pro football pioneer who founded the Bengals franchise.
Bengals officials and Hamilton County leaders elected not to
sell naming rights. This runs counter to a recent national trend
of selling corporate naming rights for new stadiums and arenas.
"I think it's right that when possible, we name our stadiums
after the heroes of our sports," said Bengals president and
general manager Mike Brown, the son of Paul Brown. "It serves
to enhance the tradition of the game, and that's not something
to be taken lightly."
"We decided this was the way to have the stadium name be a real
part of our community, as opposed to selling rights to a private
business," said Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus. "I
couldn't imagine a more fitting memorial to the man who brought
the Bengals to Cincinnati than to name the new stadium after
him."
The stadium will be located on Cincinnati's western riverfront,
approximately five blocks west of Cinergy Field, formerly
Riverfront Stadium. Seating capacity will be approximately
67,000, including 7,600 club seats and 104 private suites.
Completion is scheduled for the 2000 season. It is anticipated
that preliminary site work will begin this fall, with actual
stadium construction commencing early in 1998.
Bedinghaus likened the stadium project to a football game,
beginning with the formulation of the March 1996 county sales
tax issue to raise the public side of funding for a new football
and baseball stadium.
"In our ballgame, the first quarter was coming up with a
credible finance plan to solve our stadium dilemma and keep our
teams in town," said Bedinghaus. "The second quarter was winning
voter approval of the plan. The third quarter was building
community support for the Bengals stadium through the sale of
charter ownership agreements, club seats and private suites.
We've just completed the fourth quarter, the signing of the
lease with the Bengals, and it's a great victory for our
community."
Voters approved the stadium plan by a 61-to-39 percent margin.
"This is what the people of the county signaled they wanted when
they voted overwhelmingly in favor of the tax issue for the
public side of new stadium funding," said Mike Brown.
A practice facility will be built adjacent to the stadium even
though the Bengals recently upgraded their existing practice
complex at Spinney Field in the city's Queengate section.
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