CINCINNATI — With a lot of eyes on the Browns potential new stadium in Cleveland, Bengals fans in southwest Ohio are focused on a new lease deal that would upgrade Paycor Stadium and keep the Bengals in the Queen City. The Hamilton County Commissioners share some new updates on the lease negotiations between the team.

What You Need To Know

The deadline to sign a new lease is Aug. 1

A letter of intent has been signed by the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners for the new lease 

Bengals fans are hoping to see a resolution soon

Bengals fans say they want their team to stay in downtown Cincinnati. And that’s the goal of the Hamilton County Commission, but there are a lot of steps to get there and only a few weeks to sign a lease with this new deadline.

A Bengal fan spoke during public comment in support of the new lease. (Spectrum News 1/Katie Kapusta)

Keeping the Bengals in Cincinnati is the sentiment fans tried to get across at Thursday’s Hamilton County Commission meeting. For Bengals fan Marc Smith, he said there are more positives to this new lease than negatives.

“We also have to look at the fact that the Bengals create a lot of business for Cincinnati,” Smith said. “So we want to keep them here because at the end of the day it’s a net positive not only for the fan experience but for the money. If you think, the Bengals left, how many people would lose their jobs, parking, just so many things that we would end up paying more not to have them than having them here.”

Many fans are eager to see this deal done. (Spectrum News 1/Katie Kapusta)

Commissioners updated residents on the lease negotiations, which include the county paying a capped amount of $350 million in improvements for the stadium, while the Bengals would pay $120 million — an improvement from the current lease where the Bengals only contributed 6% of funding for improvements. These changes would be made without raising taxes.

“This is something that people are very focused on, it is something that people care about,” Hamilton County Commission President Denise Driehaus said. “And so I was always hearing no new taxes, get a better lease, keep the team here. That’s what people want.”

But for Commissioner Alicia Reece, she’s concerned about many terms of the potential lease, including that the 30% tax rebate that was promised in the current lease, and has not been consistently applied will not be in the new lease. That property tax relief averages out to about $100 per $100,000 home.

Commissioner Alicia Reece has several concerns about the terms agreed upon for the upcoming lease (Spectrum News 1/Katie Kapusta)

“I have to put the fan hat over here because now I’m elected for the entire county of tax payers and I have to look at all 49 municipalities, whether you like football, don’t like football, go to a game, or not go to the game,” Reece said.

While final terms of the lease are still being finalized, Bengals fans are hoping with training camp beginning next week, that they will soon be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

“When I think it’s signed, we’re going to go out and have some drinks,” Bengals superfan Bengal Jim said. “No, it’ll be a relief. This has just been a… you don’t like hearing about negative news, the season’s getting ready to start. I just want to get this deal done. And I think the entire community, whether they’re Bengals fans or not are going to be happy when this deal is signed and done and we can move forward.”

The Hamilton County Commission is still waiting to see the official lease. That deadline is coming up on Aug. 1.