Paycor Stadium Getting MASSIVE Renovations! Atlanta Falcons Impress Monday Night. | OTB 9.17.24

Off The Bench by Chatterbox Sports

Watch Off the Bench Presented by UDF with Chatterbox Sports Monday-Friday 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. LIVE on the Chatterbox Sports YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE to the channel to ensure you never miss a thing. Four major projects headline this work: a new field which is expected to be finished this summer, new club seats set to be installed by early June, expansion to the plaza entrance at Gate D tying the building to downtown is envisioned for late July's Cincinnati Music Fest, and an enhanced TV system earmarked for the preseason. Tradition is also getting a ticket in the new club seats. In a nod to the stadium being the first footprint on The Banks, the Bengals are using forest green for the color. It's the closest shade to the original color of the seats, when the plans for the parks and green space were merely on paper. Now that reality sprouts around the building, the Bengals decided the color scheme fits not only "The Jungle" theme, but also the kaleidoscopic view of the cityscape rolling on the Ohio River. Plus, Pope says orange seats would have faded into pink in about two years and black seats would have been too hot to the touch for much of the season. About 95% of the club seats have been installed on the east side with all that really needs to be done is attaching the new end-plate logos. Power washing is being completed on the west side while work continues on the concrete and drain repairs. "We're taking advantage of the seats being out of there," Pope says. Meanwhile, the tripling of the size of the plaza entrance at Gate D has begun. Pope figures fans see evidence of the work with the rise of a thickened concrete deck as the entrance widens from 60 feet and 200 feet. Two steel staircases are being added, one at the corner of Second and Elm streets and one along Elm Street near the Andrew J Brady Music Center, to help fans traverse from the tailgates to The Jungle and the rest of the Banks this fall. Once in the stadium, fans are going to be treated to twice as many TVs in a massive technology upgrade switching to a faster internet fiber optic system. The project scatters about 1,600 TVs around the building on gameday with many of the sets going in on the general admission concourses and the canopy level. Plus, they can now be controlled in one spot and personnel doesn't have to rely on remotes being used on-site. "That's fantastic because it allows for a better use of resources on gamedays," Pope says. "The added TVs really keep the fans connected as they move around the stadium." As the season looms closer, everyone will be working quickly to complete these projects ahead of the late-summer concerts. Another offseason filled with stadium improvements shows that both the Bengals and Hamilton County are committed to investing in the future of the stadium and delivering a best-in-class fan experience.