10-01-2019, 03:15 PM
(10-01-2019, 01:51 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Here's how I look at it:
The Bengals have been here my whole life (32 years) and Ive never seen them win a damn thing. If they left tomorrow, would anything really change?
If they left, then there's a chance a new team and ownership comes to the city - so there's that.
To answer your question - would I mind if they left? No, I wouldnt.
(10-01-2019, 02:10 PM)Catmandude123 Wrote: Maybe we get an expansion team and MB is gone. The NFL felt sorry for Cleveland and gave them one. I think we put up with MB for years so we also deserve a PITY FRANCHISE. The only problem is where is MB going to go? We need to search for a landing spot for MB. There is a place in the Cayman Islands called HELL. MB could just go to HELL.
I posted this in a different thread but it applies here as well and I'll make a few additions:
I'm not a Cincinnati native, never lived in or around the city, only visited. Closest I ever have been was living in Lexington while at UK. So the civic pride element of the team is non-existent for me in the first place. That being said, I'd much prefer to see the Bengals stay in Cincinnati than move elsewhere. I enjoy Cincinnati as a city, it's a great place to visit, and without the Bengals as a lure I doubt I'd ever find myself in Cincinnati again. Montgomery Inn ribs are fantastic, but they're not "Drive 6 hours each way" fantastic.
Cincinnati would not get another team if the Bengals left. The NFL is unlikely to expand again anytime soon. 32 teams allows for a nice even 4 teams per division and the NFL's dominance on the American pro sporting scene has seemingly peaked & is potentially in decline. Even if the NFL did decide to expand, St. Louis and San Diego would almost assuredly be way in front of Cincinnati when it comes to getting an expansion franchise just among cities that had a team and had them move. Not Oakland though, until they really get it in gear on funding for a new stadium. I know San Diego and to a lesser extent St. Louis had the same issue with being held hostage for a new stadium but I don't think either was as acrimonious as Oakland was.
Among what I'd think to be potential expansion cities for the NFL within the U.S.A, St. Louis, San Diego, Portland, and San Antonio all have larger TV markets than Cincinnati does, then there's Oklahoma City (smaller market than Cincinnati) who has shown an ability to sustain a professional team and is in a football obsessed state without an NFL team. Add in international cities like London & Mexico City (regardless of how ludicrous a London team would be), never mind any potential expansion into Canada and the odds get even longer for Cincinnati to get a team again.
Don't kid yourself into thinking Cincinnati would get some kind of pity expansion team like Cleveland did when the Browns left. If there haven't been any rumbles about new franchises for the people of St. Louis or San Diego at all, there sure as hell won't be any for the people of Cincinnati. San Diego despite not winning anything either was still one of the NFL's more marquee teams and cities, and St. Louis did win a Super Bowl while the Rams were there. The people of St. Louis didn't outright tell the Rams to F-off either, they put out a $1.1 billion stadium plan but Kroenke still hijacked them outta town because he wanted to. The Bengals have, for one reason or another, been a national laughingstock between the Lost Decade, the mid-2000's crime wave, and most recently Burfict's attempts to be a human guillotine. Even when the team was good the Bengals would struggle to sell out the stadium, that isn't a city the NFL would be dying to re-visit.
Plus, after the last time, do you really expect the county, city, or voters to shell out for another new football stadium? Because that'd be item #1 for any expansion team, a shiny new stadium. Without at least funding and a plan for a new stadium in place the city of Cincinnati wouldn't even get in the front door when it came around to expansion talk. While PBS isn't "old" it isn't "new" either. Using MLB as a template the Braves abandoned Turner Field three years ago and Turner Field opened only 3 years before PBS did. Same thing for the Rangers who are leaving The Ballpark at Arlington which opened in 1994 for a new park. PBS would have to go and plans & funding for some new mega-church to the football gods would have to be built in its place for any expansion talk to even get started.
No, if the Bengals leave it'll be the Reds and FC Cincinnati and that's it. The NBA still hasn't come back to Cincinnati and it's been close to 50 years. If the Bengals leave it'll be a long time, if ever, until the NFL decides to return.
