By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Cleveland Browns hold a slim lead over the Bengals in the on-field "Battle of Ohio." But off the field, since returning as an expansion team in 1999, the Browns are the clear winner.

Browns games have higher TV ratings through most of the state, particularly in the pivotal Columbus market that's actually closer to Cincinnati than Cleveland.

The Browns have a bigger fan club, including a 300-person chapter of the Browns Backers in Cincinnati. The Bengals have a small chapter in Akron but none in Cleveland. The Browns have a larger radio network.

And the Browns draw better. They've enjoyed 29 consecutive home sellouts at Cleveland Browns Stadium and have a 2,000-account waiting list for season tickets. Today's game against the Browns is just the eighth sellout in 21 Bengals games at Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals' failure to sell out even half of their home games keeps them off television and lets the Browns' telecasts into the Cincinnati TV market.

"When we've done well, we had a good following in Columbus," said Bengals president Mike Brown, whose father, Paul Brown, founded both franchises. "It's just the fact we haven't done well enough."

The Bengals have the league's worst record, 15-42, since the start of the 1999 season. The Browns are second worst at 16-41.

But in the three years Cleveland didn't have a franchise, 1996-98, the Bengals did little to capture any of that city's audience. The Bengals went 18-30, part of their 11-year streak of non-winning seasons without a playoff appearance.

So when the expansion Browns came back in 1999, they picked up where they left off in 1995 - when owner Art Modell moved the original Browns to Baltimore to become the Ravens.

"Gosh, yeah, it's a Browns town. It's no different now than it was in 1990-91," says Mark Wyant, a sports talk show host at 1460-AM, WBNS, in Columbus. "Frankly, the only calls we get about the Bengals are when people want to make fun of them, not to debate who should start at quarterback. Basically, it's 'Mike Brown's got to go.'

"If the Browns were 1-8, like the Bengals are now, people would be calling for (coach) Butch Davis' job. Nobody's calling to question Dick LeBeau's job."

The CBS Television Network affiliate in Columbus, WBNS, is assigned a game by the network. It's usually the Browns because they have better ratings.

The Bengals-Browns game Sept.15 had an 18.1 rating and a 36 share.

But every other Browns game aired by WBNS this season has posted higher ratings and market shares than the best of the remaining Bengals showing.

On Nov.10, the Bengals-Ravens game in Baltimore had a 9.2 rating and a 20 share on WBNS. The Browns-Chiefs game Sept.8 had a 12.8 rating and a 28 share.

On Sept.29, both the Browns and Bengals were shown in different time slots in Columbus. The 1p.m. Browns-Steelers game in Pittsburgh had a 15.0 rating and 34 market share on CBS. The 4:05p.m. Bengals-Tampa Bay game in Cincinnati, shown live on Columbus' FOX affiliate, WTTE, had a 2.1 rating and a 4.0 market share.

Bengals marketing director Vince Cicero said the team has season-ticket holders, single-game ticket holders, suite holders and club-seat holders from Columbus, although he wouldn't provide specific numbers.

In Dayton, Ohio, which is part of the Cincinnati television market, Bengals games still do better than the Browns.

But, again, the Bengals are hurt when their home games fail to sell out. On Oct.27, when the Bengals-Tennessee Titans game at Paul Brown Stadium was blacked out, the Dayton CBS affiliate aired the Browns-Jets game at the Meadowlands. The Browns had a 9.3 rating and a 20 market share on WHIO-TV.

On the southern edge of the Cincinnati TV market, in Lexington, Ky., the Browns' ratings are higher than the Bengals'. The most recent ratings book available at WKYT-TV, the CBS affiliate, is from November 2001.

The Bengals' game at Jacksonville on Nov.11, 2001, had a 2.0 share. But Browns games at Chicago and Baltimore that month each had shares of 6.0. The Browns-Bengals game Nov.25 had an 11.0 share.

"We have a number of viewers who are loyal to the Bengals, but we really hear it if we don't show the Browns," said Barbara Carden, program director at WKYT.

Then there are the fan clubs.

The Bengals' club has 2,000 members who paid $34.95 to join, said president Jim Foster of Monfort Heights.

The 4-year-old club is independent and non-profit, but it is recognized by the Bengals' organization. The club gets no piece of the fee. There is no chapter in Cleveland, Foster said, because the few Bengals fans are afraid to be recognized.

Being a fan "is extremely frustrating," Foster said. "The only hope is that this has got to be the year there will be changes. What they've been trying to accomplish, and then this year to come out and lay a big egg, there have to be changes."

Browns Backers Worldwide has 29,503 members. Membership is free and coordinated by a Browns employee. Greater Cincinnati is one of 265 affiliated chapters.

"Most of us are transplanted Clevelanders," says Joe McGregor, 35, president of the local club. "I've been in Cincinnati for 12 years, but we don't look at the Bengals as our big rival. It's the Steelers.

"I feel bad for Bengals fans because of the current situation with the owner. We don't hate the Bengals the way we hate the Steelers."

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

Tale of the Tape

	Bengals	Browns
Fan club members	2,000 paid	29,503 free
#-Average TV rating/market share	9.6-20.3	13.6-28.6
Stations in radio network	22 (16 in Ohio)	36 (30 in Ohio)
Average home attendance 2002	56,915	73,390
Series record	28-30	30-28
Record since 1999	15-42	16-41

#-Columbus TV market, 2002 regular-season games; does not include one Sunday night, national cable TV game on ESPN for each team.

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