CINCINNATI — The Hamilton County Commissioners gave an update on possible renovations that could be coming to Paycor Stadium during their meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Hamilton County taxpayers fund Paycor and the Bengals lease it from the county. That lease is set to expire in 2026, so as the county commissioners prepare for negotiations, they're also in the early stages of preparing renovation plans.
The county and the Bengals hired an outside firm, Gensler Sports, for a capital assessment. In May 2022, Gensler Sports said basic repairs to Paycor could cost more than $493 million. That includes fixing steel rails and ramps, replacing seats and upgrading electric and plumbing systems.
That number does not include a potential $200 million more for future upgrades like luxury lounges, high-end food or drink and new signs and scoreboards. WCPO obtained an early version of the master plan last summer, which had ideas like standing-room-only decks and drink rails, field goal and endzone cameras and changes to seating.
"Within five, six years, you will have been eclipsed by every other NFL stadium and the fans are not going to enjoy the experience," said Tom Gabelman, project counsel for Hamilton County.
Commissioners discussed their hopes to increase the use of the stadium for non-NFL events like concerts and integrate the stadium with The Banks and downtown more.
"We have an asset that costs us 365 days. We've got to have events happening as many days as possible," said Hamilton County Commissioner President Alicia Reece.
Gabelman said the hope is for the stadium to become "a vibrant of the community" — "It's not an island to itself that's only used on game day."
Building a new stadium isn't completely out of the question for the commissioners either. They asked Tuesday for the master plan to include options for a new stadium as well as for renovations to the current stadium so the county can see the costs for both options.
During the NFL's annual meetings, Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn said the team is planning to do some improvements themselves to show "that we're willing to invest a little bit of our own here."
“I think we have a great stadium. Our stadium has been a great asset to the area and we think if we can keep it up to a certain level it can serve us well for a while longer," Blackburn said. "(A new stadium is) a big project. And more power to Tennessee and New York for going that direction, but we feel our stadium has been a great asset and can be useful for a while."
The commissioners are wanting Gensler Sports to get the master plan to them before December. That plan will help in the decision-making process.
