The Bengals have not opened an NFL season at Paul Brown Stadium since 2009. Year after year, the NFL schedule has been released and year after year, the Bengals have been scheduled to open on the road.
Andy Dalton and A.J. Green have yet to experience a home opener in Week 1 and the Bengals are hoping that changes this year. Last year, there was hope that the Week 1 game would be played at Paul Brown Stadium, as the Reds were on the road that weekend. The Cincinnati Reds’ schedule is often what has caused the Bengals to be forced to open the NFL season on the road.
The NFL has to consider the Reds’ schedule in deciding the Bengals’ home schedule as the two stadiums are across the street from one another. Once again this year, the Reds are on the road during the first week of the NFL season and the Bengals are hoping to take advantage of that. No other NFL team has failed to open at home in Week 1 for as long as the Bengals.
Bengals.com reported that Bengals vice president Katie Blackburn has reached out to the league to attempt to get the Bengals a Week 1 home opener for the first time in eight years.
“The league has to accommodate the Reds schedule,” Mike Brown said at the NFL owners’ meetings on Wednesday. “We don’t want to play on the same weekend. We would rather just let them have that, then we’ll come back when they’re not there. They’re there half the time during the overlap.”
Here’s to hoping the Bengals finally get to open the NFL season at home in 2017.