'This is a move I think my father would have agreed to': Bengals change name of Paul Brown Stadium

The Cincinnati Bengals will be making a bit of a change to their address. Not that they are moving to a new location, but...

The Cincinnati Bengals will be making a bit of a change to their address. Not that they are moving to a new location, but their home stadium will now be called Paycor Stadium, according to a statement released by the team Wednesday morning.

“The home of the Cincinnati Bengals is now Paycor Stadium. The Bengals and Cincinnati-based Paycor HCM, Inc. (“Paycor”) (Nasdaq: PYCR) are expanding their partnership to include stadium naming rights, further strengthening their shared vision and commitment to the Cincinnati community and driving increased national awareness for both organizations.”

For 22 years — or since it first opened in 2000 — the stadium carried the name of Bengals founder Paul Brown, but after an agreement between Paycor and the Cincinnati-based NFL team, fans of the football team will have to start getting used to the new branding. While it can be expected that many Bengals fans would feel strongly against the idea of stripping Paul Brown's name off the stadium, his son and current Bengals team president Mike Brown, guarantees them that his father “would have agreed to” the change.

“This is a move that I think my father would have agreed to. He was always for what is best for the football team,” said Bengals President Mike Brown. “This partnership allows the Bengals to continue to compete at the highest level in the NFL and exemplifies our long-term commitment to the community.”

The Bengals will play their first game in the newly-named Paycor Stadium on Friday as they host the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1 of the 2022 NFL preseason. They will be back there on Aug. 27 for a mini-Super Bowl rematch against the Los Angeles Rams before preparing for their home opener for the 2022 NFL season on Sept. 11 versus the Pittsburgh Steelers, who interestingly also saw their residence change its name after 20 years from Heinz Field to Acrisure Stadium.

Signs of times, we guess.

If anything, and perhaps for trivia purposes, the last game played by the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium before the shift to Paycor Stadium was their 26-19 victory over the visiting Las Vegas Raiders in the AFC wild-card round.