The Bengals Are Openly Hinting At Leaving Cincinnati

The Cincinnati Bengals have recently extended some key players, but they soon must address their stadium contract.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer's Kelsey Conway, the team's stadium lease with Hamilton County expires on June 30, 2026. They can submit up to five two-year extensions, the first of which they must opt into by the end of this June.

On Tuesday, Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn discussed the stadium situation at the annual league meetings. While both sides would prefer to keep Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati, Blackburn said they will "make decisions at the appropriate 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."

Asked what would happen if the team didn't utilize its two-year extension, Blackburn acknowledged that scenario would create an uncertain future.

"We could, I guess, go wherever we wanted after this year if we didn't pick the option up," Blackburn said. "So, you know, 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."

Hamilton County estimated Paycor Stadium renovations, which opened in 2000, would cost up to $1.25 billion.

"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."