REPORT: Ohio House speaker doesn’t support $350 million for Bengals stadium renovations

As the Browns make headway in securing a $600 million bond to help finance a new stadium in the Cleveland area, the Bengals are struggling to gain traction on their push for $350 million in funding to renovate Paycor Stadium.

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman has made it clear he’s not backing the Bengals’ current plan.

“I met with the Bengals and Commissioner Denise Driehaus a few weeks or months ago, and they were asking for $350 million in upfront cash—similar to what the Browns tried a couple years back,” Huffman said on 700WLW, via Taylor Welter of WCPO.com. “I don’t support that. I don’t think the public does either.”

In many places, public support for using taxpayer funds on NFL stadiums is lacking. That’s why teams often try to find funding avenues that don’t require voter approval.

Huffman did suggest that his stance could change if the Bengals took an approach similar to the Browns.

“If the Bengals, the City of Cincinnati, and the county can come together on a similar plan—where taxpayers are protected or potentially even see returns, like in the Browns’ case—I’d be open to considering it,” he said.

The takeaway for the Bengals and Hamilton County: they likely need to rethink their proposal and move fast. The Bengals have until June 30 to decide whether to extend their lease at Paycor Stadium for two more years. Without that extension, the lease ends after the upcoming season.

As Bengals executive VP Katie Blackburn recently said, if no extension is signed, “we could, I guess, go wherever we wanted after this year.”

Time is running out—and the Bengals will need a more realistic funding plan if they want public support to materialize.