The Bengals are lowering their ticket prices to $20 per game

[futurecoach]

The fact that Cincinnati has the lowest home attendance of any team but the LA Rams is not due just to the factors that you state here. A whole lot of it has to do with Mike Brown and his stooges and their inability to put a quality product on the field.

 

Reeks of desperation. I abandoned my seat licenses 7 years ago in the club level and they still call me every June to see if I am interested in getting those same seats just for the cost of the tickets, no additional seat license fee.

 

Yeah it was the LA Chargers and they played in a soccer facility that seats 27,000.

 

Let's take a look at things here. You said the lack of attendance is due to a failure to put a quality product on the field.

 

2011 a playoff year Bengals had worst attendance in the nfl.

 

2012 a playoff year 8th worst

 

2013 8th worst

 

2014 5th worst

 

2015 started off like 8 and 0 and won division and had the 5th worst attendance.

 

2016 4th worst.

 

2017 3rd worst.

 

So it seems your theory of why attendance is bad because of the quality of the team is wrong. Even in 2015 the attendance was bad compared to the rest. Its simple cincy is a poor sports city, and the home experience is better.

[Jack of all Trades]

So why is Cincinnati a poor sports city? Do you mean from a $$$ perspective, a demographic perspective or a support perspective.

 

I can certainly buy a part of all three, but feel that number 3 is huge because the media in this area always speaks of the negatives whether it be sports talk shows, news broadcasts or blog pages. I think that really shows when you go to a game, whether it be football or baseball, the apathy in the stadium is rather obvious.

[futurecoach]

So why is Cincinnati a poor sports city? Do you mean from a $$$ perspective, a demographic perspective or a support perspective.

 

I can certainly buy a part of all three, but feel that number 3 is huge because the media in this area always speaks of the negatives whether it be sports talk shows, news broadcasts or blog pages. I think that really shows when you go to a game, whether it be football or baseball, the apathy in the stadium is rather obvious.

 

I think it's a poor sports city in terms of support. Yes there are a lot of fans who like the teams like the reds and Bengals, and want to see them do well. But it's more of a oh well darn the bad luck they lost again. As you stated it is a very negative city sports wise. Even in good years. It's always waiting for something bad to happen. Which imo even though players like to say they don't listen to people, they hear it and probably gets in their own head. Philly fans are harsh and negative too, but they are die hard fans still who support their teams like no others. Here in Cincy there are many fans who are not even die hard but yet they are some of the most vocal negative fans. Literally the Bengals really couldn't do anything without someone twisting it to a negative.

 

People like to talk about lack of free agency signings, but even if the Bengals did openly try to sign more. I don't see many players wanting to come here, and it wouldn't be because of Marvin or Mike Brown. It would be because you look at this place, it just isn't a fun looking place to want play at and little fan support. Imo players in the league would want to come here for Marvin and Mike Brown. You have a coach who is a players coach, and an owner who has your back even when you do something stupid. Plus with the Bengals it's about as close to a guaranteed contract as you can get in the NFL. You sign a contract with the Bengals you usually see every single penny because the Bengals let players play out their contracts even though they should be cut. Mike Brown and Marvin are reasons for players to want to come here. The fan support or lack there of is a big reason to not want to play here or stay here.

[theguru]

I think it's a poor sports city in terms of support. Yes there are a lot of fans who like the teams like the reds and Bengals, and want to see them do well. But it's more of a oh well darn the bad luck they lost again. As you stated it is a very negative city sports wise. Even in good years. It's always waiting for something bad to happen. Which imo even though players like to say they don't listen to people, they hear it and probably gets in their own head. Philly fans are harsh and negative too, but they are die hard fans still who support their teams like no others. Here in Cincy there are many fans who are not even die hard but yet they are some of the most vocal negative fans. Literally the Bengals really couldn't do anything without someone twisting it to a negative.

 

People like to talk about lack of free agency signings, but even if the Bengals did openly try to sign more. I don't see many players wanting to come here, and it wouldn't be because of Marvin or Mike Brown. It would be because you look at this place, it just isn't a fun looking place to want play at and little fan support. Imo players in the league would want to come here for Marvin and Mike Brown. You have a coach who is a players coach, and an owner who has your back even when you do something stupid. Plus with the Bengals it's about as close to a guaranteed contract as you can get in the NFL. You sign a contract with the Bengals you usually see every single penny because the Bengals let players play out their contracts even though they should be cut. Mike Brown and Marvin are reasons for players to want to come here. The fan support or lack there of is a big reason to not want to play here or stay here.

 

Good post fc!

[Just Hangin Around]

Let's take a look at things here. You said the lack of attendance is due to a failure to put a quality product on the field.

 

2011 a playoff year Bengals had worst attendance in the nfl.

 

2012 a playoff year 8th worst

 

2013 8th worst

 

2014 5th worst

 

2015 started off like 8 and 0 and won division and had the 5th worst attendance.

 

2016 4th worst.

 

2017 3rd worst.

 

So it seems your theory of why attendance is bad because of the quality of the team is wrong. Even in 2015 the attendance was bad compared to the rest. Its simple cincy is a poor sports city, and the home experience is better.

 

Did you just gloss over what I said about Mike Brown and his stooges? If you don't think that a good amount of people in this area hate Mike Brown, Marvin Lewis and the way they run this franchise then you really are naive. Ask around outside your circle as I assume you are an avid fan and have friends who probably feel the same as you. Most of the people I know will not throw money at the Bengals knowing that they will probably be disappointed in the end because of the stooges in charge. It is not cheap to go to Bengals games and if you feel you already know the season will end in an early playoff exit as it did 5 years in a row you can't get excited about the team. If you keep doing the same things and getting the same results you need to make some changes. I for one am not satisfied with a wild card loss. We all know Mike Brown is ecstatic about that but if I'm shelling out $500 a game I want to watch a team that I feel has a chance to win the Super Bowl. Until that changes the fans of Cincinnati are not going to the games and that won't change until they hire a coach that can get them there.

[Just Hangin Around]

I think it's a poor sports city in terms of support. Yes there are a lot of fans who like the teams like the reds and Bengals, and want to see them do well. But it's more of a oh well darn the bad luck they lost again. As you stated it is a very negative city sports wise. Even in good years. It's always waiting for something bad to happen. Which imo even though players like to say they don't listen to people, they hear it and probably gets in their own head. Philly fans are harsh and negative too, but they are die hard fans still who support their teams like no others. Here in Cincy there are many fans who are not even die hard but yet they are some of the most vocal negative fans. Literally the Bengals really couldn't do anything without someone twisting it to a negative.

 

People like to talk about lack of free agency signings, but even if the Bengals did openly try to sign more. I don't see many players wanting to come here, and it wouldn't be because of Marvin or Mike Brown. It would be because you look at this place, it just isn't a fun looking place to want play at and little fan support. Imo players in the league would want to come here for Marvin and Mike Brown. You have a coach who is a players coach, and an owner who has your back even when you do something stupid. Plus with the Bengals it's about as close to a guaranteed contract as you can get in the NFL. You sign a contract with the Bengals you usually see every single penny because the Bengals let players play out their contracts even though they should be cut. Mike Brown and Marvin are reasons for players to want to come here. The fan support or lack there of is a big reason to not want to play here or stay here.

 

Were you not around to watch the Super Bowl teams of 88 or 92 or the Big Red teams of the 70s or 1990 or 1995. This town was and could get excited about their teams if they had people running the teams that made efforts to win it all. Most people I know don't accept mediocrity when they're shelling out their hard earned cash. They will if they think ownership cares about trying to win and right now it doesn't look like that is the case for either the Bengals or the Reds.

[futurecoach]

Were you not around to watch the Super Bowl teams of 88 or 92 or the Big Red teams of the 70s or 1990 or 1995. This town was and could get excited about their teams if they had people running the teams that made efforts to win it all. Most people I know don't accept mediocrity when they're shelling out their hard earned cash. They will if they think ownership cares about trying to win and right now it doesn't look like that is the case for either the Bengals or the Reds.

 

Back then the home TV experience wasnt re the same as now. Back then social media wasnt the same as now. Back then was every single reds game even on TV? Times have changed. Reds have changed Owners. GMs, and guess what people still didn't go. The reds a few years ago when they were good, the attendance was higher than now. But still not good.

[futurecoach]

Did you just gloss over what I said about Mike Brown and his stooges? If you don't think that a good amount of people in this area hate Mike Brown, Marvin Lewis and the way they run this franchise then you really are naive. Ask around outside your circle as I assume you are an avid fan and have friends who probably feel the same as you. Most of the people I know will not throw money at the Bengals knowing that they will probably be disappointed in the end because of the stooges in charge. It is not cheap to go to Bengals games and if you feel you already know the season will end in an early playoff exit as it did 5 years in a row you can't get excited about the team. If you keep doing the same things and getting the same results you need to make some changes. I for one am not satisfied with a wild card loss. We all know Mike Brown is ecstatic about that but if I'm shelling out $500 a game I want to watch a team that I feel has a chance to win the Super Bowl. Until that changes the fans of Cincinnati are not going to the games and that won't change until they hire a coach that can get them there.

 

I addressed this with an earlier post when I said you could put a new owner and coach on this team, and people in this area would still find something to complain about to be negative about.

 

Mike Brown is an easy target for how poorly he ran this franchise basically until he hired Marvin. People don't want to admit it, but the Bengals have been one of the better ran organizations in the nfl since Marvin, and especially since 2009.

 

2009 playoff season, 2010 disappointment, so they blew the whole thing up in 2011 and started again. 5 straight playoff years, and 2 of those years won the division in 2013 and 2015. The Bengals did bad the last two years, so besides the head coach they blew the whole thing up again. With new systems and coaches.

 

The Bengals have gotten much younger on the defensive side that was getting older. The Bengals have added talent at running back the last 2 years, and drafted a wr first, which hopefully ends up like William Jackson after doing nothing his first year.

 

People may not always agree with how the Bengals try to go about winning, but they are trying. It's like some of you completely ignore the fact of how the majority of the nfl has struggled besides a few teams. Some of you all act like a new owner, or new coach guarantee success. Shoot just look up north in the same state. The Browns have done if all, different owners, different gms, different coaches, differentQBs. Yet nothing has worked. But yet for some reason people around here believe getting a new owner would be the miracle that fixes everything.

 

Here is the part I find the funniest. People say Mike Brown only cares about money, not winning. People then say people are idiots for going to games and giving him money. Well if he only cares about money. Then for one Marvin would have been gone. cause he knew the negative reaction that would bring. Two he would do whatever he could do to win, to try to get people back in the stands. Mike Brown imo definitely wants to win, even if we have different opinions than him on how to get there.

 

But back to attendance. Imo you are just wrong. The Bengals and reds are going to be in the bottom 10 basically every year even if they make championship runs. The Bengals are going to be in the bottom 10 even if they hire a new coach. Will people get excited again, would people go to games no. It's just an easy excuse for people to use Mike Brown as the reason they wont go.

 

We can agree to disagree then on this being a bad sports city.

[Just Hangin Around]

Do they not have social media in Cleveland or get their games on tv? Even Cleveland fills 87% of their stadium at home. The Bengals are next to the worst of any team in the NFL on a % basis at 81%. Except for the LA Rams who are are trying to fill a 93k seat arena with 67.7% in a city that is as fickle as they come about sports no one else is near the Bengals. Ther are 19 teams that fill their stadium at 95% or better and 9 of those are over 100%. Do they not have televised games and social media? I'm not buying your reasoning at all. That's your opinion and like they say about opinions everybody has one. Heck the bengals as late as 2016 filled Paul Brown at 92% or better.

[futurecoach]

Do they not have social media in Cleveland or get their games on tv? Even Cleveland fills 87% of their stadium at home. The Bengals are next to the worst of any team in the NFL on a % basis at 81%. Except for the LA Rams who are are trying to fill a 93k seat arena with 67.7% in a city that is as fickle as they come about sports no one else is near the Bengals. Ther are 19 teams that fill their stadium at 95% or better and 9 of those are over 100%. Do they not have televised games and social media? I'm not buying your reasoning at all. That's your opinion and like they say about opinions everybody has one. Heck the bengals as late as 2016 filled Paul Brown at 92% or better.

 

My biggest and main reason as I have stated a few times. Is this simply is not a good sports town anymore and winning wont fix that That's the point Cleveland when it comes to fans has a strong fan base. They are there even when they suck, which is more than the Bengals. Philly fans are negative but die hard and you know they are there for them. In Cincinnati are fan base sucks. Period. A negative atmosphere filled this city in all sports. Doesn't matter if teams even have good seasons and look like contenders for a championship. People don't come. Like it or not the Bengals have been one of the more consistent winning teams in the nfl over the last 9 years and fans still didn't come. Fans were barely coming even in the first few playoff years during the 5 year playoff stretch. 2011 should have been a year many people got excited because they were a surprise year and the stadium still stayed empty. 2013 was suppose to be the year, and everyone thought they would take the step that year and still was 8th worst.

 

It's just not a good sports city, period. Doesn't matter if teams win or not. Maybe it use to be. But it's not anymore. There are not as many die hard fans here as true sport cities. This is a place now where people root for them, but not really die hard to where even if they were competing for championships they would come. It just not a good sports city. Then when you do add in the home experience, and all social media stuff. Hence why attendance is down and will stay down. Winning would get them out of the bottom 5. But still at best bottom 10. While you are right should not be satisfied with only wild card games. There is no reason in none of those 5 seasons did they get better than 8th worst in the nfl. Our home field advantage sucks. Our fans hurt us just as much as anything when it comes to making this not an attractive place.

[TAC]

My biggest and main reason as I have stated a few times. Is this simply is not a good sports town anymore and winning wont fix that That's the point Cleveland when it comes to fans has a strong fan base. They are there even when they suck, which is more than the Bengals. Philly fans are negative but die hard and you know they are there for them. In Cincinnati are fan base sucks. Period. A negative atmosphere filled this city in all sports. Doesn't matter if teams even have good seasons and look like contenders for a championship. People don't come. Like it or not the Bengals have been one of the more consistent winning teams in the nfl over the last 9 years and fans still didn't come. Fans were barely coming even in the first few playoff years during the 5 year playoff stretch. 2011 should have been a year many people got excited because they were a surprise year and the stadium still stayed empty. 2013 was suppose to be the year, and everyone thought they would take the step that year and still was 8th worst.

 

It's just not a good sports city, period. Doesn't matter if teams win or not. Maybe it use to be. But it's not anymore. There are not as many die hard fans here as true sport cities. This is a place now where people root for them, but not really die hard to where even if they were competing for championships they would come. It just not a good sports city. Then when you do add in the home experience, and all social media stuff. Hence why attendance is down and will stay down. Winning would get them out of the bottom 5. But still at best bottom 10. While you are right should not be satisfied with only wild card games. There is no reason in none of those 5 seasons did they get better than 8th worst in the nfl. Our home field advantage sucks. Our fans hurt us just as much as anything when it comes to making this not an attractive place.

 

I agree with your post for the most part. Add in we were used to having real winning teams. Big red machine, 90’s team, and a couple visits to the Super Bowl. Now kids are playing multiple sports, video games to play and both parents working. Not much time to follow good teams. Cincy fans will only follow very good teams.

When UC basketball was good, you had to buy football tickets too. Than UC basketball was down and they couldn’t fill their arena.

[CAP]

Let me ask all you Mike Brown haters would you rather him pack up and leave and there not be an NFL team in Cincinnati?

 

In the last 8 years Mike Brown has paid players and they and they have done well in the draft so its hard to say now that he isn't putting a good quality product on the field. My only gripe with him right now is keeping Marvin, I don't think he is a guy that can take us to the next level.

[futurecoach]

Let me ask all you Mike Brown haters would you rather him pack up and leave and there not be an NFL team in Cincinnati?

 

In the last 8 years Mike Brown has paid players and they and they have done well in the draft so its hard to say now that he isn't putting a good quality product on the field. My only gripe with him right now is keeping Marvin, I don't think he is a guy that can take us to the next level.

 

Agreed! People are still using the 90s early 2000s narrative with Mike Brown. Honestly since 2003 they have done a great job keeping players. The majority of their good players they were able to keep. The ones they lost were guys who got record contracts like Eric Steinbach, and Zeitler to the Browns both got record contracts at the time. Then Jonathan Joseph they lost. Marvin Jones they offered the same contract Detroit gave him. So wasnt like they weren't trying to pay him. He just wanted a chance to be the guy. Where here after 2015 he was the 3rd option behind Green and Eifert.

 

I still think they did the right thing letting Whit go. Can you imagine the outrage if they paid him the huge contract the Rams did and the line still sucked last year? People forget the line sucked in 2016 with both him and Zeitler. So it would have sucked last year too. Except a 37 year old player would be getting paid lots of money. People would have tore the Bengals up for that.

 

The Bengals had a great plan in place thinking ahead too on the offensive line. What hurt them is this missed on their tackles they took in the 1sr and 2nd round in Ced and Fisher. If those worked out like 1st and 2nd round picks should have. They would have been in great shape.

 

People complain about Mike Brown and needing a GM. When the reality is they have done a better job over the last 10 years than the majority of teams with GMs. The biggest mistake probably as you mentioned is keeping Marvin so long as head coach.

[hrcarrier]

To me, this is ownership screaming our ticket sales projections are horrible and not looking like they are going to get much better. I don’t know how they didn’t know that this was coming. Many fans are fed up with the issues of ownership and management.

 

This deal may work some, but I don’t look for it to fill as many seats as they are hoping. Even if it does fill seats, they will be taking a big hit compared to what ticket prices were before.

[futurecoach]

To me, this is ownership screaming our ticket sales projections are horrible and not looking like they are going to get much better. I don’t know how they didn’t know that this was coming. Many fans are fed up with the issues of ownership and management.

 

This deal may work some, but I don’t look for it to fill as many seats as they are hoping. Even if it does fill seats, they will be taking a big hit compared to what ticket prices were before.

 

The Bengals are typically in bottom 5 of the nfl in ticket sales even during good seasons. It's a bad sports city period in terms of fans attending games. A lot of people like to say well it's because of this or that. But the reality is it's just not a good sports city. Even during good seasons the attendance sucks. People always like to refer to the reds in the 70s and Bengals in the 80s to try to justify well if they truly compete for a championship people come. Times have changed, I truly believe the Bengals could win the super bowl and the next season the attendance still would be bottom 10 in the nfl. The only thing that would change is the excuse for why people dont come.

 

It's just not a good sports city. Realistically investment wise it would be smart for any owner to leave this city.

 

Imo I think the Bengals will one day end up in St. Louis. When St. Louis decides to want to get a NFL team again and have plans for a new stadium in place.