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USATSI

The Bengals have been playing at their current home stadium for the past 22 years, and in that time, the building has only had one name. However, that will now be changing after the team struck a naming rights deal with Paycor.

As of Tuesday, the stadium formerly known as Paul Brown Stadium will now be called Paycor Stadium after the team and the company inked a 16-year deal. The Bengals already had a partnership with the Cincinnati-based company, so the team felt like this was the logical next step. Paycor has served as the team's official and exclusive HR software provider since 2018. 

If this name change had been announced a year ago, it would have been a total shocker, because Bengals owner Mike Brown had always been adamant that he was going to keep his dad's name on the stadium. During the 2021 season, the Bengals were one of the just three teams that didn't sell the naming rights to their stadium (the Bears and Packers were the two others). 

But with the cost of business going up, the Bengals became more amicable to the idea of selling the naming rights to the stadium. 

"I think my father would have agreed with this move," Brown said when recently asked about the potential stadium naming rights deal. "It's a time now where we need a revenue stream that will help us do such things as build the indoor facility. It'll help us perhaps handle the cap a little bit easier."

Besides the indoor facility, the Bengals have a lot of big expenses coming up. The biggest one will likely be the extension given to quarterback Joe Burrow, who will become eligible for a new contract following the 2022 season. Brown is very aware of the fact that Burrow is going to be able to command top dollar. 

"We see that train coming," Brown said.

The deal with Paycor allows the Bengals to take advantage of a much-needed income stream that almost every other NFL team is taking advantage of. 

"We're a small-market team. We need the revenue streams that we can obtain," Brown said. "The fact that about 30 teams have naming rights and a revenue stream from that and they have more revenue than we do to begin with. We have to do some things just to keep up."

For the Bengals, one reason they decided to sell the stadium naming rights now is because their stock is at an all-time high. With the team coming off a Super Bowl appearance and featuring a star quarterback, that made the naming rights a more valuable commodity. 

The Bengals are the second AFC North team this offseason to announce a new stadium name. Heinz Field in Pittsburgh is now known as Acrisure Stadium after the Steelers agreed to a 15-year deal with Acrisure.

The stadium name change in Pittsburgh hasn't exactly been welcomed with open arms by Steelers fans. One reason it's caught a lot of flak is because the Heinz name was so iconic in Pennsylvania. For their stadium name change, the Steelers went from a Pittsburgh-based company (Heinz) to a company that doesn't really have any ties to Pittsburgh (Acrisure). 

On the Bengals end, they ended up partnering with a company that's been based in Cincinnati for more than 30 years. 

"It was important to find a naming rights partner that strongly aligns with the Bengals brand," Bengals Executive Vice President Katie Blackburn said in a statement. "Paycor is a local company on the rise that shares our commitment to building winning teams. We are proud to support Paycor's growth and strengthen the Cincinnati business community with this partnership."

The first regular season game at the newly named Paycor Stadium will take place Sept. 11 against the Steelers. The Bengals will also host two preseason games at Paycor, with the first one coming Friday against the Arizona Cardinals.