“The county has not performed its obligations under the lease,” Bengals Vice President Troy Blackburn wrote to Hamilton County Administrator Jeff Aluotto last Thursday, January 9. “With the stadium entering its final lease year, the situation stands very much at a precipice, and we hope progress can be made so the stadium remains an asset for the community.”
Aluotto responded by saying he was “perplexed” with the tone of Blackburn’s email, and further noting that the Bengals stadium capital budget exceeded the amount approved.
The latest tension stems from an exchange that began before the Bengals 2024-25 season, in which Blackburn accused the county of being in violation Section 13.9 of the lease on July 16, 2024. That’s a clause that called for the county to reimburse the team for “game day expenses” in the final nine years of the lease. The team waived those payments in 2018, in exchange for the county spending $30 million to move Hilltop concrete away from the riverfront.
But the Hilltop move was supposed to happen by 2021 and it hasn’t. So the team started billing the county for game-day expenses in 2023.
“This letter provides written notice of the county’s failure to pay the amounts due the team as required under Section 13.9,” Blackburn wrote. “The county has 30 days to remedy its failure by making the payments.”
Fifteen days later, on July 31, 2024, Aluotto responded with a lease default allegation of his own.
“While we do not desire to get into a legal battle over this topic, the county believes that Section 13.9 of the lease is unenforceable,” Aluotto wrote. “However, the county could certainly also assert (that the team) breached the terms of the lease when it entered into naming rights agreements pertaining to the stadium complex without obtaining the county’s advance written approval and consent.”
Neither side has taken steps to terminate the lease, but neither has withdrawn its allegations.
“To be clear, the county does not wish to engage in discussions of alleged defaults under the lease by either party,” Aluotto wrote in July. “We have remained partners, throughout the term of a complicated lease for nearly three decades and the taxpayers and fans expect us to work together to achieve a new, long-term agreement that protects the future of one of the county’s most expensive capital assets. The county is proceeding in that good faith manner.”
The Bengals issued the following statement on Friday about the negotiations:
“The Bengals and Hamilton County have been working together for thirty years. Over those decades, there will naturally be areas where the parties agree and areas where the parties disagree. The Bengals goal for many years has been to extend the lease and to keep the stadium competitive in the NFL. We believe that this is an area of agreement among the parties, and the Team will continue to work to achieve these goals.”
Hamilton County also issued a statement Friday morning:
“The Team and County are continuing discussions on the nature of a new lease and a comprehensive renovation strategy for Paycor Stadium. While we don’t always agree on everything, we are both committed to moving expeditiously in 2025 towards a sustainable financial solution that prioritizes the needs of the community and the team. County Commissioners will discuss the framework detailing the county’s position at our next staff meeting on Tuesday, January 21.”
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