Paycor Stadium

The Banks — the entertainment district between Paycor Stadium and Great American Ball Park — wraps both venues with restaurants, bars, apartment buildings, and the Smale Riverfront Park along the Ohio River. The stadium sits directly across from Newport on the Levee in Newport, Kentucky (linked by the Roebling Suspension Bridge, the Brent Spence Bridge, and the Taylor-Southgate Bridge). Over-the-Rhine — the historic 19th-century German neighborhood now home to Cincinnati's deepest restaurant and brewery cluster — is a short ride north and is the destination dinner district. The downtown core and Fountain Square are a 10-minute walk north. The Newport on the Levee complex across the river offers a Kentucky-side pre-game alternative with its own restaurants and the Newport Aquarium.

Arrive earlier than you'd think — Sunday traffic into downtown plus security screening can stack up, particularly for primetime or divisional games. The Banks district between the stadium and Great American Ball Park is the canonical pre-game gathering spot. The Jungle — the Bengals' fan-base nickname for the stadium dating to the 1980s — refers to both the team's tiger-stripe identity and the historically loud crowd in the lower bowl; the seating bowl was designed to keep noise in. The Bengals publish current bag policy (NFL standardized clear-bag rules apply), parking, and gate-open times on their official site and these change season to season — check before traveling. Mobile-only tickets and cash-free concessions are the norm. A Skyline 3-way before the game is the canonical Cincinnati pre-game ritual.

Paycor Stadium opened in August 2000 as Paul Brown Stadium, named for the legendary head coach who founded both the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals. It was renamed Paycor Stadium in August 2022 when Paycor — the Cincinnati-based human-capital-management software company — acquired the naming rights. The Bengals reached Super Bowl LVI (February 2022) and won AFC Championship Games at the stadium in the 2021 playoffs, returning the building to national prominence after a long playoff absence. The stadium sits on the Ohio River waterfront immediately west of Great American Ball Park, with The Banks entertainment district built between the two venues — the Reds-Bengals shared riverfront campus is one of the more concentrated pro-sports settings in American downtowns. The Bengals' tiger-stripe end-zone treatment, the Roar of the Jungle pre-game tradition, and the historically loud lower-bowl atmosphere are the building's defining identifiers. The stadium has historically been the host site for the Bengals' annual joint training-camp practices and youth football events.