For some NFL teams, a practical impediment exists to hosting games in London: The stadium lease.
Some leases require all “home” games to be played in the home stadium, with no “home” games played elsewhere. The Bengals’ lease at Paul Brown Stadium previously contained such a provision. Now it doesn’t.
The Bengals announced a new agreement with Hamilton County that, among other things, “allows the Bengals to participate in the NFL’s International Series games.”
The team will contribute $6 million to stadium upgrades, and the venue will have new wireless Internet service, a high-definition scoreboard, a new weight room, new furniture in he Club Lounges, and an expanded locker room. The Bengals also waived height restrictions aimed at ensuring views of the Ohio River and the Cincinnati skyline from the stadium.
The agreement flows from the county’s desire to upgrade a riverfront development known as “The Banks,” which could bring up to 2,000 General Electric jobs to the area. It marks a shift in a hostile relationship between the team and Hamilton County executives.
“We wanted to demonstrate our interest in working together to ensure that The Banks is a viable location for this project,” Bengals president Mike Brown said in a release. “We all know that the Cincinnati area is a great place to live and work. Landing this project will let the nation know it as well.”
The release from the team refers to games being played abroad on a “periodic” basis, which implies that only seven regular-season games will be played in Cincinnati at least twice in the coming years.
