The Bengals have announced the renaming of Paul Brown Stadium to Paycor Stadium. This announcement comes a couple of weeks after several reports stated that the organisation was looking into selling the naming rights to the stadium.
Paycor is an HR software company that focuses on smaller and midsized businesses. They are based in Cincinnati and have clients worldwide.
Bengals owner, Mike Brown, released the following statement regarding the news:
The only constant is change, and my father built his career on changing the game and the business of football. I think that today’s step is a positive change that helps us compete where we want to: on the football field.
Mike Brown
While it was nice to have a name like Paul Brown Stadium, selling the naming rights makes a lot of financial sense for the Bengals. It is no secret that upcoming contract extensions for guys like Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and others, will not be cheap. This additional income will help the team get these new contracts done. This specifically helps them with the guaranteed portions of these contracts.
When teams guarantee money, they must immediately move it into escrow. This means that while the player will receive portions of it over the duration of the contract, the organisation must put it all aside right away. The Brown family relies on the revenue from the Bengals as their main source of income. This can make it more challenging to fork over large portions of money all at once, compared to bigger organisations, like the Cowboys, and owners like Jerry Jones, who have several revenue sources.
Though it won’t be the same to no longer hear it called Paul Brown Stadium, this is a decision that should help the team retain players that will be key to the team’s success in the short and long term.
