Bengals unveil first wave of upgrades at Paycor Stadium

Published July 22, 2026 09:58 AM The Bengals are upgrading, not replacing, their 26-year-old stadium. On Tuesday, they provided a progress report.“Phase One” of the multi-year project includes “renovated restrooms, upgraded concessions, transformed club lounges, reimagined suites, a redesigned Bengals Pro Shop, modernized scoreboard control room, improved wayfinding, and core infrastructure improvements.”By 2027, the stadium upgrade will include “adding escalators, replacing stadium seats, and a new, larger videoboard featuring enhanced technology.”The never-ending stadium arms race puts constant pressure on teams to find ways to keep up with the advancements made elsewhere. The current renovations are the first tangible evidence of last year’s lease negotiations that came dangerously close to making the Bengals geographic free agents.Balanced against improving in-stadium experience is the reality that more and more money is coming from TV rights. Still, teams need to make going to the games sufficiently attractive to keep the stadiums sufficiently full, in order to provide the right background images for those watching at home.Even as the NFL becomes more and more popular, seeing empty seats is the kind of thing that could cause some viewers to ask themselves, “Why am I watching this?” In this day and age, “because it’s on TV” is no longer good enough.