Bengals Appear To Violate NFL Policy With Paycor Stadium Snow Cleanup

CINCINNATI — The Bengals dropped the shovel ahead of Sunday's snowy game against Baltimore. The quick freezing temperatures and dumping of snow in downtown Cincinnati over the past 24 hours caused the Bengals to violate NFL policy. Pro Football Talk reports that the Bengals leaving ice and snow on the seats of Paycor Stadium directly violates the league's playing field specifications.

Cincinnati told PFT in a subsequent comment: “Seat aisles were prioritized and are in good shape. Seats are easily wiped off, and ushers are equipped to help there.”

The official language touches on seat and off-field conditions.

The rule reads like this: “Each home club is responsible for having a snow removal plan in place and ensuring that its stadium has adequate snow removal equipment available. Snow and ice must be removed from the stadium before all games. This applies to the playing field, sidelines, seating bowl, aisles, pedestrian ramps, walkways, parking lots, etc. This also applies to the sidelines; snow may not be pushed into piles and remain against stadium walls so that it interferes with standard game or sideline operations.”

Multiple reports noted fans were chipping away ice with credit cards in sub-10-degree temperatures. It was nine degrees at kickoff, the fifth-coldest game in Paycor Stadium history. The real-feel temp was -1 degrees with windchill, the Bengals announced ahead of kickoff.

A tough environment to watch a football game, but Bengals fans are improvising how they can. The Ravens and Bengals are battling in the frigid temps for AFC North positioning. Cincinnati needs to win on Sunday to keep their season alive.

Welcome to the (frozen) Jungle!

We saw fans scraping ice off of their seats with credit cards 🥶

The wind chill will be around -3 at kickoff.#Bengals | @FOX19 pic.twitter.com/yfp8rMUQ39
— Regan Holgate (@HolgateRegan) December 14, 2025

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