Negotiations for a new lease are spilling over to key areas of maintenance.
It might take fans a bit longer to get around Paycor Stadium this upcoming season.
Hamilton County Commissioners recently voted 2-1 to replace six escalators in the stadium. Because of that lone ‘No’ vote, plans will not move forward for the $1.5 million project.
Alicia Reese was the lone Commissioner to vote no, according to Chris Wetterich or Cincinnati Business Courier.
One of the big reasons for this vote was the Cincinnati Bengals stating the escalators in question are “unsafe.” Reese took issue with this.
“If the place is unsafe, it needs to be shut down today,” Reece said, according to Wetterich. “I will call it like I see it. If we don’t have escalators that aren’t working properly, I consider that unsafe.”
The clear issue with that thinking is that they do have stairs to get around the stadium, and they can simply have these shut down. It will just drastically slow down the whole process and efficiency of getting to seats and out of the stadium.
More of a reasonable argument is that new escalators are part of the $830 million memorandum of understanding on stadium renovations. A new lease has yet to be agreed upon, and the deadline is June 30th.
An issue that will be coming sooner than later is logistically getting escalators replaced prior to the 2026 season, as acquiring the materials is easier said than done in the current state of the world.
It is understandable to want the lease agreement done before stuff like this gets figured out, but this could be a real issue, and shutting down Paycor Stadium over some escalators simply is not a reasonable option for either side.