Friday, July 07, 2000
Bengals buck big-dollar name game
By Cliff Peale
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When the Cincinnati Bengals started thinking several years ago about a name for their new stadium, they bypassed local corporations and decided on an icon.
The team chose Paul Brown Stadium as the name, forfeiting millions of dollars in potential revenue from a local company.
The Bengals also had to pay Hamilton County millions to compensate for the lost revenue, said Troy Blackburn, director of stadium development.
The Bengals did strike a deal to put the Provident Bank name on top of both scoreboards, and outside the stadium facing Fort Washington Way.
Some other teams have taken similar stances. For example, the new Cleveland Browns stadium is called simply Cleveland Browns Stadium. Instead, the Browns sold naming rights for each of the stadium's four main gates.
But Ohio's National League Football League teams have bucked a trend set by nearly every other professional franchise building a new stadium.
“When you go to a new facility, your opportunities for revenue increase are staggering,” said Myles Gallagher of The Superlative Group, who negotiated the deal to name the new Cincinnati Reds stadium Great American Ball Park.
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