New Bengals $1B roof proposal receives pushback due to affordability
By Jon Styf
The Center Square
It would cost between $900 million and more than $1 billion beyond current renovation estimates for Hamilton County to put a roof on Paycor Stadium for the Cincinnati Bengals, according to estimates from three companies presented to county board leadership this week.
And, as Hamilton County Administrator Jeff Aluotto said, that would require additional tax money from the county that it doesn’t currently have, something county board leadership says that it would not want to commit toward a stadium.
Aluotto claimed the stadium would have a positive economic impact but "that is a different concept than paying for the stadium itself and paying for the debt service without tapping into, somehow, that growth…”
Aluotto said that additional debt service for a roof would likely cost between $50 million and $65 million each year of the new lease.
The Bengals franchise, owned by Michael Brown, is valued at $4.1 billion by Forbes.
The county previously discussed a proposal for $1.25 billion in renovations at the stadium before the costs of a potential roof, making the total costs of renovation with a roof more than $2.1 billion.
Economists have consistently shown that public investments in pro sports stadiums and arenas do not provide the promised economic benefit for the governmental entities providing subsidies.
Board of Commissioners President Alicia Reese pushed back after Aluotto’s presentation, saying the commission should consider a roof because many of the city’s tourism competitors – such as Cleveland and Nashville – are building or planning to build roofed NFL stadiums.
Reese said that the first thing that needs to be addressed with the Bengals is a new lease because county taxpayers paid for 95% of the original 1997 deal through a half cent sales tax and continue to pay for renovations at the stadium while the team collects all of the stadium revenues.
The county pays for utilities at the current stadium including gas, water and electric while the team keeps stadium revenue. The Bengals have five two-year options to extend the current lease beyond 2026, as long as the extension is completed 12 months before the lease ends.
“They’ve got us in handcuffs for those 20-plus years,” Reese said. “And none of us did it. But they’ve got us in handcuffs and they can keep the bad lease going. Maybe that’s the direction they’re going, because they don’t seem to be paying attention to us at all.”
Reese said that Bengals have done things such as renovating the club level with funding from corporate sponsors without the approval of the board. The Bengals provided an update over the summer saying that Hamilton County taxpayers paid $39 million for "pre-renovation" upgrades to infrastructure, technology, operations, seating and stadium accessibility.
That included a new field design, new club seats, expansion of the Gate D entrance and a new entertainment system throughout the stadium including 1,600 TVs.
Reese also said that the actual sign with the stadium's corporate name, Paycor Stadium, was placed on the stadium without notification to county leaders.
“I am trying to make sure we don’t come back for 20 years, I want this (renovation) to be viable for 20 years,” Reese said.
Reese added that she believes a new arena being considered by area leaders should be placed on land neighboring Paycor Stadium, land originally pitched to hold a Bengals practice facility that she said the team has pushed back against.