Have you ever been to Paul Brown Stadium?

[*SHRacerX*]

(08-01-2022, 08:55 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: I was a season ticket holder for the first roughly 20 years of the stadium opening.  Here are my thoughts in pro and con form:

Pro:

Good sightlines from virtually every seat.  There really aren't any bad seats there.

Comfortable, bigger seats, with fixed cup holders in front of you. (although you are all but guaranteed to bang your knee on a few entering or exiting.

Parking around the stadium is accessible and fairly cheap.  We always parked on 7th street and maybe had to walk a little over half a mile, but we got right out and on I-71 to drive back to Centerville.

Food choices were just ok, but I am not one that really goes to a ballpark for the food.  The Reds dominate in this arena.  

Big bathrooms, with tons of urinals.  Only oversight was a small door entrance which gets a little clogged when folks are entering and exiting, but you can usually take a piss in a matter of minutes.  Nice that they pipe in the sound and they are heated as well.  

The location on the banks (now that they actually have something there and not just a pile of dirt) is awesome.  Great view of the city one way and the river the other. 

Tickets are very affordable relative to most NFL games.  

Cons:

Spent seemingly a TON of the budget on the club lounge area.  You have to have club seats to enter, and the food there is excellent as is the atmosphere. Lots of comfy seats to relax on, tons of screens so you don't miss anything.  These are the seats that always look empty because those seat holders are back in the club lounge socializing.  Not really my crowd (I won't want to miss a snap) but as a massive generalization, they aren't the die hard fans.  There are a lot of business tickets at the club lounge.  

Appearance is just average.  I thought they were going to do some cool video on the "canopies" that was illustrated in the earlier designs, but it never happened.  The screens that show scores around the league are tiny.  Lots of areas look "unfinished" where there is like insulation and ventilation pieces visible from underneath.

This actually changed recently, as I went to the Ring of Honor unveil game on Thursday Night and the SOUND is now amazing.  For years it sucked.  Ditto the fireworks off the stadium roof.  Really cool experience, especially at night.  

Ingress/Egress is just ok, the lame escalator only works part of the time and my 90 year old dad gets questioned when he takes the elevator (classless).  I know a stadium isn't probably the best environment for a 90 year old, but there should have been more elevators for elderly folks.  He has no problems at GABP. 

That's about it.  I have been to Lucas Oil stadium and Ford Field and found those to be amazing. I would give them As and PBS about a C-.  It would have been a D- before the recent improvements to the sound system and fireworks/entertainment. 

EDIT:  When the Bengals are on the road and open the stadium for watch parties, I believe the club lounge is open to all.  It is really a cool area.  Like I said though, it feels like 80% of the budget went to the club lounge, which isn't a big area at all.