12-14-2021, 12:07 AM
(12-13-2021, 10:01 PM)Whatever Wrote: I believe he said he needed a new stadium "to be more competitive".
From 2000-2020, the Bengals were 22nd in the NFL in wins. Las Vegas ponied up $1.8 billion for a stadium for the team ranked 29th in wins in that time frame. Cleveland taxpayers paid for a new stadium and partially paid for stadium renovations for FirstEnergy Stadium. To this day, it has never hosted a playoff game.
That's just the NFL stadium economy. If you're a big market, an owner with deep pockets will pay to put a stadium there. If you aren't a big market, you're going to foot at least some of the bill.
You're right. He didn't say "win" he said the generic "compete" word
That said, he still lied. He pretty much blamed their losing on free agency, saying in effect that free agency changed everything, and they couldn't compete due to inability to sign free agents thanks to the old ugly stadium holding them back.
The new stadium changed very little with their approach to free agency.
The cities you mention didn't have an NFL team, so they were more desperate, and local fans didn't know what it was like to deal with 30 years of overall losing ways. So they're more likely to "just want a team".
Cincinnati knows it all too well.
I know another city would swoop in and gladly take the Bengals. I'm just saying that if the FO decides that's what they'd want to do, I'd let them, considering the results after the last go round.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
