Thirty here I fifty five KERSD talk station normally doing a Daniel Davis deep dive. We thought that was gonna happen today. Hey know, they had some vacation and if people didn't let us know about that. But we do have a wonderful substitute today. Haven't talked to Jason Williams from the Cincinni Inquirer and quite some time. We used to have regular college conversations back when it did his politics extra column. But he does a wonderful job as
a sports writer for the Cincinni Inquirer. Jason, welcome back. I'm laughing about your column, man. I I was just telling my listeners I ran in a Moeggar yesterday. We were both at a golf outing. It's a charity golf outing, and I was talking to mo about the new locker room at Pey Course Stadium. I said it looks like a discothech and he started laughing and he said, you know the thing about it, he is the players didn't even really seem to care, and they put all this
money into new locker room. And the players that were interviewed were like, yeah, okay, like whatever, you know, it's got a place to hang nice stuff and take a shower. That's all I need. I mean, they could use a high school locker room and it had the same overall value as the discotheque that they have now. Anyway, should the sub should Cincinnati Bengals follow Brown's lead, look at
stadium in suburbs, Let's ditch pay Course Stadium and run away. Jason, I'm sorry to laugh about it, but we're talking about a two billion dollar price tag, which also is in and of itself comical.
Well very much so, you know. I mean, that's that's that's the trend though in the NFL right now are people looking at building new stadiums. Obviously in Cleveland, they're actually going to build a new stadium. In Nashville, in their stadium there's only a year older than pay Corpse Stadium. They're building a new stadium in Buffalo. They in fairness, they need one. I mean, that's a fifty over a fifty year old stadium or over fifty years old. But
that's kind of the thing right now. For all these stadiums that came in in the late nineties early two thousands, you're looking at uh nearly a billion dollar price tag for overhauling them or do you look at building a new stadium. So I literally I just saw some buzz about it. I heard a little bit about it again, just people talking about it. I was just kind of like, I'm gonna I mean, could this even ever happen and
just raise the question about it? Really? Really? Uh, I mean it would It would be pretty crazy to think all the money it's been put in the pay Corse Stadium and but this is just it's not a far such thing to think about. Again because of what I just said. But at the end of the day, I just don't see it happening because you know, really, the Brown family, uh there, they're gonna be really they're gonna be asked to put up a lot of money for this, and they're gonna be asked to put up a lot
of money for the overhaul pay Corpse Stadium. But I just don't. I think I think that's where the conversation would start and stop right there is I just don't. I can't see them willing to put in kind of money that's going to take to build a new stadium.
Well, let me ask you this, just being practical as I am here, why do we feel the need generally the so called the owners of the teams or or whatever whot is demanding all of these so called upgrades that are so damned costly a billion dollars. I understand taking care of what you own. It's something I really implore the City of Cincinnati elected officials to do with regard to our roads before they go building more stuff and things. But a road works if you keep it maintained.
It doesn't need to be changed or altered. It provides the core function, which is to serve for my car to drive down. The pay Corpse stadium works. You can play football there, you can buy stuff there outrageously priced, yes, twelve dollars for a beer and seven dollars for a cheese cony. But it works. What's so wrong with it that it needs all kinds of huge upgrades maintenance improvements? Are people no longer going to attend a football game because we don't have a bigger jumbo tron or a
better locker room? This all seems so superficial and shallow air frankly pointless.
Well, at the end of the day, it really is. I'm oh, yeah, I agree. I think a lot of this is just like it's just the price. It's it's what it's what the NFL wants, it's what the demands
across the NFL. So any of these I mean at the end of the day, like if the lease is coming up in twenty six, so the Bengals have the leverage here to say, Okay, well this is what's happened across the NFL, and all these stadiums that were built in a similar time, well, their leases are coming up too, and this is what all their peers are asking for. And you know, in new stadium stadium upgrades. But a lot, a lot of this is a lot of this is
window dressing. I guess it's not. It's not hardcore, Like yeah, yeah, there are I guess. I guess again, Like, you know, for a thirty year old what is it twenty five it was build in two thousand, so twenty four year old building, Like you know, are there some things that
need to be upgraded? Like yeah, but is it anything massively wrong with the building that it requires like up toward a billion dollars worth of uh, you know, overhaul and bell A lot a lot of that stuff would be bells and whistles types of things like you know, they just pump up thirty nine million dollars into I think, you know, just new They put new new seats in the club level, and then they're redoing, like they expanded the bridge outside the stadium. I mean a lot of
that stuff. Did you really have to have the bridge expanded? Did you really really have to? I mean, I mean really, I mean it's gonna alleviate some pedestrian traffic, you know, eight days a year, but uh, did you you know you mean no? Right? I mean right, I mean you know, what is there like eight eight, nine, ten games in a couple of concerts, I mean, you know, a dozen dozen days a year? Sorry for my math there, Yeah, right, Like, but that's really what this. I mean, how many years
did Riverfront Stadium go? And like did they rip out all the infrastructure inside and redo all of it over the years? I don't, I don't remember, but yeah, right, I'm just saying, like this is this whole wave of Okay, well you got all your new stadiums twenty twenty five years ago, and now here comes the wave again of like, well it's either a new stadium or it's a really really overhauled stadium and construction costs. That costs even more
to build the original thing. It's just really crazy. It's it's not just going on here. I think it's a little more of a touchy issue here because of how much money the pack taxpayers have paid versus some other places the taxpayers didn't have to bear it as big of a burden, and some other NFL cities so hearly certainly have.
Jason Williams was one of the great points you made in the article. The Brown family, apparently this is their sole source of revenue. They're not multi multi billionaires like so many the other NFL team owners. Those guys or ladies as the case may be, or corporations or groups of individuals can afford to put their own money where their mouth is and pay for it themselves since they're the ones that reap the financial benefit of the ball
the game's being played there. Fine, that's private industry and market. That's the way it's supposed to be. The idea that a private entity, a sports team is calling on the public, the taxpayer, to shoulder the burden of all these crazy upgrades, and I think you and I agree, most of which are completely unnecessary. Bells and whistles just to keep up with the other guy. Kind of like a small Genitalia thing going on here, Jason. But that is what is
bothersome and troubling to me. And I think to most people, they're still going to go to the football games if they love the Bengals health. I think they go to the Cincinnati Gardens if it still existed, if the football if Bengals are going to play there, that's fan loyalty to play.
But if the Bengals are going to win, it's all about winning. Bryant, Well, how about games winning? No one cares, No one cares really where they're playing.
Well, they're paying Joe Burrow a lot of money. Maybe they should put their resources into paying more, bigger salaries and recruiting better talent. I don't know, Jason, I don't disagree with that.
Hmm.
Maybe that's a better expenditure of money. Oh my, it's anyway. Yeah, I just want.
To add, like I do I you know, really, I've been around the NFL and I've seen some of these places.
I've been to Buffalo, I've been to Kansas City, and honestly, like if you could go back twenty five years old, longer than that in the mid nineties, and if there would have been more of a vision cast, like the stadium probably would have been better off, you know, building in the suburbs somewhere, And of course that would of there would have been a whole other wave of people, you know, complaining and oh, we're losing the Bengals to
Warren County. And you know, I know it's there's always going to be adversity or a fight on any side of this that you would go. But I think for some reason, for some reason, the Bengals said we're going to move to Warren County by the Tennis Center, I'm just choosing that. I don't know if that's enough plot of land, but I honestly don't think. I mean, there would be some Hamilton County politicians or political insider type, so it'd be like, oh, no, we can't let this happen.
But I think for the most part, certainly Hamilton County taxpayers and fans, I don't think with care. Then of course you got Warren County taxpayers might be pretty upset, but at least I think it would be a zero it'd be a zero sum game and it wouldn't be this big. I don't think it would be this enormous, like oh my gosh, we're losing the Bengals or anything like that.
No, I and I agree with you on that. Hell, if they could building in northern Kentucky, the Greater Cincinnati Airport is in Kentucky. Parenthetically, it doesn't get people from going there or laying claim to it. The Cincinnati Bengals could be in any part of the general tri state area and they'd still be the Cincinnati Bengals and people wouldn't feel like they got stabbed in the back because of a threat to take the ball and run away to some other with it like some of the other
teams have done. That does not show any respect for the fan. It is a complete nuking of the goodwill that they might otherwise have, as is demanding the taxpayers pay for all these bells and whistles and upgrades that really aren't necessary to play the game. Jason Williams Cincinnati dot COM's where you find Jason. He's a wonderful sports ride. You should follow what he writes on in the enquiry. Do that at Cincinnati dot Com. Jason, you know you're
always welcome on the program. I enjoy our conversations. I just appreciate the lighthearted nature of this one. And in spite of the practical financial reality that's going on here, take care of my friend. We'll talk again soon. Ho Brother eight forty one fifty five Krsey the Talk Station five one, three, seven, four nine fifty five hundred, eight hundred and eight to two three talk go with Pound
five fifty on eight and Chi Funds. Maybe feel differently about it, but I'm clearly where I am on that subject, and I recommend strongly.
Zimmer.
Yeah, Zimmer Heating and air Conditioning. They've been around for a long time, more than seventy five years and three generations of family ownership and operation. You know, they have a relationship with their long standing customers and it's a great one. They keep the houses comfortable, they keep them safe and efficient. Turn to Zimmer to trusted third generation experts and the leader in twenty four hours, seven day a week emergency HVAC service, because you know it never
goes out at a good time in summertime. Obviously, if you lose your air conditioner, even if it's during regular business hours, it sucks. So get in touch with Zimmer and talk to them about the cool Carrier Comfort rebate going on right now, where you can save up the twenty one hundred dollars on a new carrier air conditioning unit carrier invented air conditioning so wonderful unit.
There.
Zimmer obviously an authorized service and sales reps four carrier units and you're going to be very happy saving twenty one hundred dollars. Trust the folks at Zimmer. You can easily schedule appointment and learn more about who they are at the website which is go zimmer dot com. That's go Zimmer dot com.
This is fifty five KARC an iHeartRadio station