Hamilton County Commissioner Sounds Off on Paycor Stadium as Lease Negotiations Continue

The Bengals and Hamilton County have until June 30 to come to an agreement.

Paycor Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals, in downtown Cincinnati on Friday, May 23, 2025. / Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Bengals and Hamilton County have until June 30 to come to a new stadium lease agreement.

Negotiations haven't been pretty in recent weeks.

Hamilton County commissioners voted 2-1 to proceed with the escalator project that was included in a Memorandum of Understanding that both sides agreed to in April. The county is currently refurbishing the current escalators as part of a separate project. It will cost $1.5 million to install new escalators.

Alicia Reece voted "no" according to Chris Wetterich of the Cincinnati Business Courier.

The Bengals have said that the current escalators are unsafe and need to be replaced.

“If the place is unsafe, it needs to be shut down today,” Reece said according to Wetterich. "I will call it like I see it. If we don’t have escalators that aren’t working properly I consider that unsafe."

The Bengals and the county agreed to a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) for a new stadium lease in April, but they have yet to officially sign a new lease.

Reece made it clear that part of the reason she voted "no" is because the escalators are part of the MOU and not the current lease agreement.

Despite the vote being 2-1, the county will not move forward with plans to replace the escalators at this moment. Clearly they're focused on getting a bigger agreement in place, but if they want to replace them next year, then they need to start ordering the steel and equipment in the near future.

Check out the full story here.

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