In late June of 2010, Mike Brown basically told Joe Reedy that the economic issues are Hamilton County's problems and that he has no reason to revise the existing lease between the county and the team because the economy is just bad. And with a detailed ear between of the financial windfalls in the state as a whole, I can confirm that he's actually not wrong in that regard.
Rough a month after a deal to minimally help county, and less than a week after Mike Brown's press conference that sent Bengals fans into a spiral of fond memories at how bad this thing can get again, the Bengals are now asking the county for concessions.
At the top of the Bengals’ list: extending their lease by up to 20 years, a deal that would require the county government to pay for all stadium upkeep and improvements, from toilet paper to a new scoreboard.
The Bengals have also asked the county to restate some things already in the lease – like buying the team a new scoreboard – which could cost $20 million - and paying the team $30 million in the last nine years of the current lease, which ends in 2026.