Charter Ownership Agreements, or COAs, are license contracts that allows you the right to purchase season tickets at Paul Brown Stadium. They are like stocks. If they are purchased at one price, and the team performs well, which subsequently influences demand, the COAs increase, to be sold at a profit by the original buyer if he so chooses.
Except, they're not being sold at a profit. Dow writes that in the past two years, the average COA "has dropped from $2,783 to $536."
COA owner, Rich Ehemann said, “The COAs were supposed to be an investment and go up in value over time. I have upgraded my seats three times since the stadium opened and paid a premium on the COA each time. Now, my club seat COAs are virtually worthless due to Mike Brown’s mismanagement of the team. Even after the stock market crash, Bengals COAs are the worst investment of my life.”
We shouldn't be stunned, shocked, or surprised. All of this is expected. We figured that the team losing 23 of their past 35 games drew too many dysfunctional and bitter memories of what the 90s and early 21st century felt like. It was back. The return of ineptitude, incompetence, all for the sake of selling their COAs.
Aside from the basic problems with the front office, the problem here is having your investment returned. The bigger problem is few buyers. The larger problem is that none of this affects the bottom line. Unfortunately, COA owners are stuck with the agreement, through a contract, until they expire. At which time, the Bengals can hand off to another. That'll be the point in which the team is affected, provided buyers stick to their guns, refuse to purchase, in the hopes that the bottom line will be severely hurt.
“Mike Brown has proven that mediocrity will sell out that stadium,” said Nabih David. “Next year or the year after, the Bengals are going to approach an 8-8 record, and that would really raise the value of those tickets.”
True. So true.
WDR says, don't you dare.