Williams: How Cincinnati Bengals could move to suburbs without leaving Paycor Stadium

Ask columnist Jason Williams anything − sports or non-sports – and he’ll pick some of your questions and respond on Cincinnati.com. Email: jwilliams@enquirer.com

Message: How do you see the Bengals’ new stadium deal playing out?

Reply: The taxpayers will lose again.

Sure, they might lose a little less than last time. But I predict Hamilton County leaders will ultimately cave to most of the Bengals’ hardline demands on Paycor Stadium upgrades.

You can see it coming. The Bengals say they’re willing to pay $50 million toward $300 million in upgrades to the stadium by the end of 2025 in exchange for extending the stadium lease for five years, according to Enquirer colleague Scott Wartman’s report last week. That's just 16.7% of the total cost the Bengals say they're willing to pay.

The county must demand the Bengals pay more. To the Bengals, though, that is more than what they chipped in on the original cost to build the stadium – just 6%. The Bengals have most of the same people who negotiated the last deal at the table again, and that’s a problem. There isn’t a fresh perspective.

The Bengals don’t change. But the stadium corporate welfare game has. The trend in other NFL cities with new stadium and stadium-upgrade proposals is about a 60/40 public/private split to cover costs. I think most taxpayers could live with that and understand you pay a premium to have an NFL team.

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Commissioner Alicia Reece is hitting on the right things. She’s calling for the NFL to put in $100 million for Paycor Stadium upgrades. She’s also demanding the county gain more control of the stadium. Makes sense, right? The county owns it.

Gaining more control of the stadium is where the county really needs to drive a hard bargain. It’s ridiculous the Bengals, under the current lease, control the venue nearly year-round. They shouldn’t have any say on non-Bengals game events. They shouldn't operate training and daily business operations out of the stadium.

A big step toward the county gaining control of its stadium: The Bengals need to build a practice facility away from the stadium. There’s plenty of land in Blue Ash, Warren and Butler counties. Almost every other NFL team has its training headquarters away from the gameday stadium.

The Bengals could get a tax-incentive deal from a suburban municipality to build a practice complex. I’m not advocating for it, but you know how these things go. FC Cincinnati, for example, got tax incentives to build its practice facility in Clermont County.

A suburban practice facility would get that ugly, Stay Puft Marshmallow-looking practice bubble off the riverfront. The Bengals would have a better place to train, and not at the county taxpayers' expense. They'd have Paycor Stadium on gamedays.

And Hamilton County could use its stadium the rest of the year. That's beyond fair, but don't count on it happening.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How Cincinnati Bengals could move to suburbs, stay at Paycor Stadium