Cost to enclose Paycor Stadium $900 million to $1 billion - Cincinnati Business Courier

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It would cost $900 million to $1 billion to enclose Paycor Stadium, according to studies commissioned by Hamilton County, a price all three county commissioners reacted to at their meeting Tuesday.

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It would cost $900 million to $1 billion to enclose Paycor Stadium, according to studies commissioned by Hamilton County, a price that two county commissioners declared was far too expensive given the potential other renovation expenses other examinations have produced.

Commissioner Denise Driehaus said after a Tuesday, Oct. 29, presentation the study would “close the chapter” on any discussion of a dome.

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“I have long held the opinion that we can’t afford a dome,” Driehaus said. “From what I’ve heard, we just can’t afford it.”

Commissioner Stephanie Summerow Dumas concurred.

"It comes down to dollars and cents for me," Dumas said, saying the numbers "are obviously to me cost-prohibitive. It's simple for me. For me, forget about a dome."

Driehaus noted there likely will be even more operating costs.

But Commissioner Alicia Reece, in a lengthy commentary, seemed to cast doubt on the estimates, calling it “gloom and doom.”

“There seems to be a tone. ‘We can’t do it. It can’t be done,’” Reece said, using a sing-song sarcastic tone to describe past rejections of ideas she has put out, including landing the Major League Baseball All-Star Game when Great American Ball Park opened in the mid-2000s or holding watch parties at Paycor Stadium.

Reece said “before I’m willing to just throw it out,” she wanted an itemization of all of the costs for enclosing the stadium. “Maybe there’s some things on there we don’t want. I would like to see a multi-faceted facility that can be an arena and can be other events.”

At a $139,000 cost, both Gensler and AECOM Hunt examined the idea and came up with two types of roof. One is a “tied arch” concept that would cost $982 million to $1 billion. An alternative design supported by structural steel columns has “plastic film-type roofing” and would cost $903 million.

On Sept. 18, the county unveiled a master plan proposal for the stadium site that would renovate the stadium’s basic infrastructure, add 500,000 square feet of repurposed or new space as the team’s offices and other functions are moved to a new facility to the west. The master plan was estimated at $1.3 billion. While the county commissioned the study with the Bengals’ input, neither the county commissioners nor the team have come out in support of the idea, which was crafted by architects at MSA Sport and six other partners.

“I’m not sure we can afford that,” Driehaus said of the $1.3 billion proposal, adding she still wants the stadium to be used for more than football each year. “I’m pretty sure we can’t.”

Reece also broached the idea of spending the money that would go to a new Bengals practice facility and team offices on the site of the current outdoor practice facility on an arena at that site, saying her understanding is the team does not want the new building architects proposed there. The estimate for that facility is $249 million. The county’s legal adviser on riverfront matters, attorney Tom Gabelman, told Reece the team views stadium improvements "as a much higher priority."

In 2022, Gensler released a study of rehabilitating the stadium’s basic infrastructure that would cost $494 million.

For comparison, the Cleveland Browns have proposed a brand-new domed stadium in the suburb of Brook Park at $2.3 billion. The Jacksonville Jaguars have proposed a renovation of EverBank Stadium that includes a dome at a $1.4 billion cost.

The stadium’s current elliptical shape makes it hard to enclose, Hamilton County Administrator Jeff Aluotto said. And even if such a stadium attracts big events, such as the NCAA Final Four or the Super Bowl, the huge economic impact of those events will not pay for the borrowing needed to construct a dome.