Negotiations are ongoing between the Bengals and Hamilton County over the future of Paycor Stadium. A June 30 deadline looms which will play a key role in deciding how the franchise proceeds with respect to its location. 
The Bengals will have to choose by that date on exercising an option to maintain the current lease with Paycor Stadium and thus remain in the downtown Cincinnati area. Doing so would represent the first of five two-year rolling extensions of the current agreement. Talks on an deal for stadium renovations have not yielded much in the way of recent progress, however.
“We wish there was a little more urgency and it was moving faster,” EVP Katie Blackburn said at the annual league meetings, via Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic (subscription required). “I do believe that the county would like to get something done. We just seem to be very slow in making it happen.”
Finances are among the issues yet to be worked out in this case. A $1.3 billion renovation project was proposed in September, but no arrangement has been made with respect to how it would be funded. Use of state money could be an option, although nothing has been decided in that respect yet. A consultant was recently hired by the county to help bridge the gap between the parties; unless significant progress can be made in the coming weeks, though, the situation could notably change.
In the event the Bengals do not pick up the option by the looming deadline, the team’s lease will expire on June 30, 2026. If that were to be the case, the door would be open to the team exploring other locations for the future. Such a scenario would be unlikely, but discussions on that front will no doubt increase unless an agreement can be reached shortly.
“We could, I guess, go wherever we wanted after this year if we didn’t pick the option up,” Blackburn added. “We’ll see… 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.”
Blackburn noted the Bengals’ affinity for remaining in place as negotiations continue. Depending on how they proceed, the possibility of a change in location could become a key talking point for the franchise this offseason.
As a Steeler fan, I always thought that Ben Roethlisberger owned that stadium.
I’d like to see the look on his face if they presented him with a bill for $1.3B worth of renovations 🙂
Ah looking to steal more money from the public. Billionaires, what incredible people.
Hamilton county and the Bengals always do this ignorant dance around who’s going to pay for what. Stop already. Just split the bills. Katie isn’t in charge so why is she threatening anything? Cincinnati city council, pull your head out of your a** and make a deal. Remember how we lost the Cincinnati Royals? Over concessions money.Do you really want the Bengals to leave? Might as well send the Reds packing too. The St. Louis Bengals and the Nashville Reds doesn’t sound good to me.
St. Louis wants no part of the NFL after being twice burned by the Football Cardinals and then the Rams.
And you would have to be at least 70 to remember the Cincinnati Royals, the NBA club that’s an ancestor to the Sacramento Kings.
People don’t have to have been alive at the time to know about a team leaving their city. Just ask people who talk about the Philadelphia Warriors or Athletics moving in the ’50s.
Ancient history.
Charles from New Jersey -I understand that to you what happened yesterday was ancient history. But some of us do remember years ago when our teams didn’t exist (Bengals) or we lost a team for stupid reasons and never got one back. When you dismiss history or try to change it to fit your narrative you look foolish to those who were there and experienced it. “Me thinks, perhaps Charles from New Jersey may be a troll, or he may just be one whose intelligence is limited by ignorance of history and/or facts,” as the Bard of Avon may have put it
Charles of New Jersey –Do you have a point or do you just spout random words like you have some knowledge of what’s being spoken about? Do you live in ST Louis or do you know everyone there? And lastly, these are called EXAMPLES of where Cincinnati’s teams could move, not where they would move for certain. And yes, I do remember the Cincinnati Royals and why they left Cincinnati. It was over concessions money at the NEW (then) arena in Kansas City. Are you disparaging me because I’m old or because I know a lot about sports history?
To me this situation feels like the saints with Tom benson wanting to move the team to San Antonio. Even before Katrina he wanted to move the team and just used it as leverage for state and city to pay for upgrades he didn’t want to do.
The Bengals would do well to consider hiring a PR firm because man do they love to put their foot in their mouth with these comments.