'Our fans deserve the best.' What's new at Paycor Stadium for Bengals fans in 2023?

The Cincinnati Bengals spent roughly $20 million on renovations centered around the fan experience at Paycor Stadium ahead of the 2023 NFL season.

All of the new renovations will be fully functional by the Bengals' regular-season home opener against the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 17.

"We think our fans deserve the best experience," Bengals Senior Manager of Digital Strategy Caroline Blackburn said. "We're gonna do everything in our power to keep building on that."

More: What Cincinnati Bengals' owner Mike Brown is, isn't saying about Joe Burrow's contract

More: Mike Brown has a limited update on Cincinnati Bengals' Paycor Stadium lease

The Bengals unveiled some of the new renovations and additions to the fan experience on Tuesday morning. Here's what fans should expect this fall.

Upgraded, faster concessions

Bengals Director of Stadium and Event Operations Duane Haring said Paycor Stadium now includes 78 self-serve kiosks throughout the venue, available in all levels. Ensuring fans miss as little game time as possible was a focal point to the latest round of renovations with more self-serve markets and additional points of sale. There are seven new self-order and pick-up locations throughout the stadium and 14 grab-and-go stands, like "The Go Route" to help reduce lines. These grab-and-go stands were rolled out during Taylor Swift's two-night stop in Cincinnati earlier this summer and were "phenomenally successful," according to Blackburn.

One of the quick markets is "The Perch," located on the east and west canopy of Paycor Stadium. The Bengals doubled the size of the new East Sideline Bar and added more television and lights.

On the west sideline, the Queen City Taphouse was completely renovated and is now known as "The Jungle Bar."

As far as general concessions, "there is a fresh look and feel across all concession stands, with a focus on gameday favorites such as chicken, burgers, chili and barbeque concepts," according to a press release.

Announced in April, Skyline Chili is the new official chili of the Bengals with concessions located throughout Paycor Stadium. On the club level, there will be two additional TCL (Tenders, Love and Chicken) locations, as well as other tender and burger options, along with the barbeque restaurant, "Smoke and Sizzle."

"We want you to feel connected with the city."

On the east side of Paycor Stadium, the Bengals worked in collaboration with a local Cincinnati artist to create a mural for the East Sideline Bar that, with now double the available seating, will serve as a gathering spot prior to games.

"We want you to feel connected with the city," Blackburn said. "I think it'll be a very fun, energetic place to go before games."

New banners, graphics and murals will be installed throughout Paycor Stadium, notably through the Gate A entrance. With a nod to the white tiger, there are renovations to the glass when walking into the stadium, as well.

"If you go through Gate A, you'll recognize some banners that have been there awhile. There are new and should be energizing. You can see they're fan-focused," Blackburn said.

On the west side of the stadium, the same set that the Bengals players used for their Media Day photoshoots will be available for fans to take pictures in.

"We want to add some of the personality from the team and this city into the stadium," Blackburn said. "We have custom torches that are Bengals themed and you can walk over and get pictures in the media day set that all the players used. I think it'll be awesome for fans."

Inside the stadium, there will be second layer of LED ribbons added.

"It's going to add an extra element of light and atmosphere, especially during intros, which will compliment our LED stadium lights we already have," Tanner said.

All-Access TV show on the way

A new 30-minute documentary show, "From the Jungle: Bengals All-Access" will be coming this fall, showcasing a "behind-the-scenes look at the exciting transformation taking place throughout Paycor Stadium in time for the home-opener," according to a press release.

"It'll be somewhere between 'Hard Knocks,' 'Welcome to Wrexham.' It'll be very familiar to a lot of different teams from around the league," Bengals Director of Content Seth Tanner said. "We're trying to take a more community-centric approach. While it's driven by the football team, we're also going to be focusing on specific characters throughout the community and organization."

The show will appear on Thursdays on YouTube and the Bengals app as well as Bengals.com. It will be broadcast on Local 12 on Saturday nights.

Fan experience has improved over the last 3 seasons

According to the NFL's league-wide Voice of the Fan survey, while polls season ticket members from all 32 teams, the Bengals rank in the top-5 in Season Ticket Member satisfaction and game entertainment.

"We use that (survey) feedback to prioritize what we do in the offseason," Bengals Director of Fan Acquisition and Development Payton Phillips said. "We're looking forward to our members, in particular, but all of our fans to experience the feedback and the direct impact that has on their experience."

Over the past few seasons, the fan feedback has been a positive as the team decided to invest more into the game day experience.

"I came in here as part of a philosophical shift in how we approach content specifically," Tanner said. "There was a lot on the table we wanted to go and grab and serve to the fans and we're still building on that."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What's new for Cincinnati Bengals fans at Paycor Stadium in 2023?