Welcome to the Jungle
Written: May 07 '03
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Pros: Newer stadium; Modern amenities; Easy to get tickets
Cons: No nearby parking; high prices
The Bottom Line: Paul Brown Stadium is much better than the old field, but it needs a few improvements to make it a world- class facility.
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| Bryan_Carey's Full Review: Paul Brown Stadium |
Paul Brown Stadium is a relatively new NFL facility that opened in the Fall of 2000. It was built to replace the now demolished Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium), an outdated multi- purpose stadium that was once shared by baseball’s Cincinnati Reds and footballs’ Cincinnati Bengals. Now, the Bengals have a home to call their own, with this new facility located very close to I-75 on the banks of the Ohio River.
Background of This Stadium:
Paul Brown stadium became a reality starting in 1996 when voters approved a temporary sales tax measure to pay for the stadium to be built. Bengals owner Mike Brown wanted a new stadium that was designed only for football and, like many owners, he threatened to possibly move the team to another city if he didn’t get a new home for his football franchise. The local fans didn’t want to see the team leave, so they agreed to a new tax. The total cost to build the facility was $400 million.
On September 10, 2000, Paul Brown Stadium opened and hosted its first home game, one of the rare sellouts for this Stadium. Attendance has been up and down for the Bengals since then, with only about 90 percent of the stadium filled to capacity on a typical Sunday afternoon.
Basics of the Facility:
Paul Brown Stadium consists of three levels of seats and a walk- around design that permits fans to walk to any area of the stadium where they wish to partake in the concession sales. The upper levels are serviced by elevators, escalators, ramps, and stairs to accommodate the heavy foot traffic and to ensure that everyone, including those who are handicapped, has an easy path to his/her assigned seat.
Most stadiums nowadays are named after a corporation that pays the team for naming rights. Paul Brown Stadium is an exception to this. It was named instead for the late Paul Brown, the legendary NFL coach who led the Cleveland Browns to several national championships and who also founded the Cincinnati Bengals franchise in 1968.
Statistics/Measurements:
Paul Brown Stadium has a capacity of 65,535, with 114 private suites and 7,600 club seats. There are three levels and five entrances, and the stadium area covers a total of 22 acres. Both end zones have seating as well, in a single level, which provides for a continuous “ring” of seating around the entire field.
This stadium was built exclusively for football, with an oval shaped design. The height of the stadium is 157 feet and fans are kept informed and entertained by two large video scoreboards which measure 27 feet in height and 88 feet in length.
Pricing/Concessions:
Paul Brown Stadium has an abundance of concessions to choose from to satisfy the hunger and thirst of so many thousands of fans. There are a total of 56 concession locations and 400 points of sale, with food selections that span a large cross- section of a typical sit- down restaurant menu. There’s a large NFL store, too, where you can purchase hats, jacket, sweatshirts, and other souvenirs for your favorite NFL team.
Prices of food and drink are high, so you need to be prepared to cough up some bucks if you get hungry or thirsty. A glass of beer will cost you about $5.50; a glass of pop, $3.50; and a burger about $3.00. The cheapest food item on the menu is a small popcorn, which sells for about $2.00.
Ticket prices are costly too, with prices ranging from $35 to $54. Most of the tickets, however, have already been purchased by season ticket holders. It’s fairly easy to buy tickets for end- zone seats or for seats in the upper corners of the stadium. But if you want tickets at the 50- yard line near the field, forget it! You need to know someone who has tickets for sale to have any chance of sitting in these prime locations.
Final Thoughts:
Paul Brown Stadium is a marked improvement over the cold confines of the old Cinergy Field location. Cinergy employed the old “fishbowl” style, and it was dark and dingy, with high walls and thousands of nosebleed seats with poor views.
Paul Brown Stadium, on the other hand, is designed in an asymmetrical fashion, with open ends that allow for fans to view outside the stadium walls. This is a nice improvement over the old Cinergy Field which was entirely enclosed and offered views only to those who were willing to get out of their seats and walk over to a gate. One of the open ends of the stadium faces the Ohio River, while the other end is aimed closer (although not directly) to the downtown area.
I have found Paul Brown Stadium to be a mixture of good and bad points from the perspective of both cost and atmosphere. First of all, the price of just about everything is high. For a family of four, the cheapest seats in the facility would still cost a grand total of $140 ($35 x 4). Add in the parking and just a basic hot dog or burger and a glass of soft drink for each person, and the total bill for your family outing would be about $180 in total cost! That’s enough to put the possibility of a day at Paul Brown Stadium onto the fantasy wish lists of many families.
The atmosphere at this stadium is usually lively and fun. Even with a low- capacity crowd of 90 percent (for NFL, this is considered low), you still have almost 60,000 screaming fans. This makes it fun, yes, but as far as the appearance goes, I don’t necessarily like the aesthetics of this stadium. The view of the Ohio River is nice, and I like the fact that the stadium is more open than the previous one. But I don’t really like the overabundance of gray colors and concrete. It makes it look rather drab, and takes away from some of the experience. Of course, it also doesn’t help that the Bengals have performed so poorly as a team over the past decade. This takes away from the fun of going to a game because you enter the stadium expecting the home team to lose. During halftime, it’s common to witness large groups of frustrated fans gathering on the concrete decks on the ends of the stadium, discussing why the team performed so poorly in the first half and betting on whether or not they might stage a comeback and win.
The seats are comfortable at this stadium, measuring 20 inches in width which is an inch wider than the NFL standard. And because the stadium isn’t as tall as the former Bengals home (not to mention the fact that it’s shaped like a football field and not round), the views are pretty good no matter where you sit. If you are having trouble seeing the plays, you can always look to one of the two large video screens.
Parking at this stadium can get frustrating and fans should be prepared to park far away from the stadium and walk a good distance to the facility. There are only about 5,000 parking spaces in the immediate vicinity, and these are all taken by season pass holders. So, you will have to park in the downtown area or on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River and walk over the bridge (or look for a shuttle bus to the game). Parking will cost you anywhere from $10 to $20, unless you can find a parking space on the street. Since all games are on Sunday, the parking meters are not enforced so you can park on the city streets without paying any money. The traffic situation after a game can get pretty ugly when 60,000- plus fans all head back to their vehicles at once to begin the drive home. You have to exercise patience and wait for the congested traffic to slowly disperse.
The concessions inside the stadium are expensive but there is one way that you can cut down on your expenses. Paul Brown Stadium allows each fan to bring in food and drink, as long as it’s enclosed in plastic or paper, and in a soft- sided cooler no larger than 8.5 inches by 11 inches by 4 inches. You cannot bring in any alcoholic beverages, but you can bring in plastic bottles of soft drinks (cans and bottles are not allowed) and save yourself some money.
The Cincinnati Bengals have not fared so well over the past 10 to 15 years, which has proven to be a mixed blessing for fans of the team. On the bad side, the poor performance means that the stadium doesn’t sell out very many of its games, which means that the game is often subject to a television blackout in the local area. It also means that there won’t be as many rowdy fans to enjoy the game with, if you choose to attend. But on the good side, the lack of sellouts also means that it’s relatively easy to get tickets. With some NFL teams, the popularity and nostalgia surrounding the home team is so great that it’s virtually impossible to get tickets to a game. You have to either know someone or purchase tickets from a scalper or through Ebay or some other on- line source. Not so at a Bengals game. There are almost always some tickets available for sale, often right up to game time and beyond.
Speaking of the Bengals woes as a team, one humorous thing that you might notice if you visit the stadium are the small planes flying overhead with advertising banners for the website mikebrownsucks.com. Mike Brown is the owner of the Bengals, and he is often the subject of harsh criticism (and deservedly so, in my opinion) from fans for his poor handling of the team. Disgruntled fans have bonded together and created this anti- Mike Brown web site, to bring attention to Brown’s many failures as a manager and owner and to hopefully pressure Brown into selling the team. You can read all about the dissatisfaction of the team in this site, post messages, and even make an on- line donation to help fly the banners during the game.
Overall, Paul Brown Stadium is a decent facility and it does offer nice views of the Ohio River and the Cincinnati skyline. The outside is nice, too, with thousands of trees and small shrubs to give the stadium a more comfortable, park- like feel. But some of the inside aesthetics could be improved to make the experience more enjoyable. The people in charge of the stadium itself can’t do much about the performance of the team, but they could make a few improvements on the inside of the stadium and with the parking. It would work wonders for the fans who sit through those long, grueling, frustrating games watching the Bengals try to play football.
Recommended:
Yes
Parking Availability: Better Get There Early
Seat Location: Outfield/Endzone
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