Katie Blackburn of Bengals’ Katie Blackburn who stays in the center, look for ‘more urgency’ for the agreement

PALM Beach, Fla. – The executive vice -president of Cincinnati Bengals Katie Blackburn sat in a peaceful courtyard at the Breakers Hotel Tuesday with a small media contingent who went to the annual meeting of the NFL. His dish was full of delay, with contracts for the stars Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase, an ongoing negotiation with the Rusher of Bordi Trey Hedrickson and the free agency.

However, a matter of business that does not correspond to the tranquility of the surrounding environment has arrived in the foreground. A deadline dated 30 June to exercise the first of the five two years extensions of the lease of the Paycor stadium. It will be a point of inflection to keep the Bengali on the banks in the center of Cincinnati.

Blackburn said he would prefer to offer encouraging details of an agreement that joins the county of Hamilton and has an optimistic tone on the landing state of a renovation agreement in the center.

This is not the case.

Instead, he could only reflect his tone of negotiations as “neutral” and recognizing a considerable gap does not seem to close while the watch comes out.

“We would like it to be a little more urgently and moved faster,” said Blackburn. “I think the county would like to do something. It seems that we are very slow in making it happen.”

The county has revealed rendering and details of a renewal proposal of $ 1.3 billion in September, with a new team and headquarters, practicing fields and greater connectivity to banks as well as stadium updates.

Those served as a starting point but did not necessarily share the same vision or financial investment that the Bengali would prefer. A series of E -mail controversial between the vice -president Troy Blackburn and the County Administrator Jeff Alutto emerged in January reflecting a negotiation that was not close to completion or contentment with the direction of the interviews.

County recently hired David Abrams of Inner Circle Sports, based in New York City, as a consultant in negotiations. He helped negotiate agreements in Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville and Nashville. He arrived with a specific understanding of what should be in this type of agreements with the hopes of filling the gap.

Blackburn sees road blocks despite everyone’s efforts.

“We all worked very hard to watch an extension of the lease and renovation contract that could be part of it,” he said. “And therefore there are many great ideas out there. He is just finding a way to bring together everything, make sure everyone is on the same page and let’s put together. It seems that we have a lot of work to do to do it actually.”

In the meantime, in Cleveland, the discussions of the stadium remained ugly with legal actions between the Browns and the city of Cleveland for the desire for the property to move the team outside the center and in an indoor stage and an entertainment district in the Suburban Brook Park. They are weighing for the state funding proposed to help cover the expenses of the football Mecca of 2.4 billion dollars.

State funding could also be part of the solution in Cincinnati, but how much and whoever is still determined.

If the Bengali do not reach an agreement or exert the first two -year extension by June 30, the lease contract will officially expire on 30 June 2026.

At that point the Bengali, theoretically, would be free to find other options.

“We could, I imagine, go where we wanted after this year if we had not taken the option,” said Blackburn. “We will see. As I said, all these things will be done in due course. We are discussing, and therefore we hope that the county is thinking a lot about it, and wanting to face it in a way that would be advantageous for both.”

All this raises the obvious question, asked to Blackburn: if it is not possible to reach an agreement with the county, is there a possibility that the team would be open to move to another county in Ohio or Kentucky?

“We love where we are,” said Blackburn. “I am a great supporter of being in the center. I think it is a great thing for the city. I think the position of the stadium is good at this moment. I think our stage, of course, must continue to be maintained appropriately and want to keep it at a certain level. It is only important that we are competitive with others.”

There was a sort of building boom in the NFL, with almost a third of the clubs that deal with stadium problems.

The Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens have recently approved the renovation of the stadiums of the existing center. Tennessee Titans, Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns (outstanding) are building new stages of billions of dollars. The leaders of Kansas City are evaluating a move in Kansas after Missouri voters have rejected a renewal proposal. The Chicago Bears are potentially moving from the center for the outskirts of Arlington Heights.

Considering the situation and actions of Bengal in the NFL panorama, Blackburn was therefore asked if other counties contacted to verify the possibility of a move.

“It’s not where we are focused at the moment,” he said.

The general theme of Blackburn is that the Bengali situation is no different from the rest of the NFL. They want to stay in the center in a renewed Paycor stage, but there is concern about the property of the lack of urgency in finding an agreement to make it happen.

“At the end of the day, I imagine that we are playing it one day at a time,” said Blackburn. “We will just have to see where everything goes.”

(Photo: Phil Didion / Imagn Images)