Paul Brown Stadium is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sports
stadiumA modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
located in
CincinnatiCincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
,
OhioOhio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. It is the home venue of the
Cincinnati BengalsThe Cincinnati Bengals are a professional football team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the AFC's North Division in the National Football League . The Bengals began play in 1968 as an expansion team in the American Football League , and joined the NFL in 1970 in the AFL-NFL...
of the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. It opened on August 19, 2000. The stadium was named after Bengals' founder
Paul BrownPaul Eugene Brown was a coach in American football and a major figure in the development of the National Football League...
. The stadium is located on approximately 22 acres (8.9 ha) of land and has a listed capacity of 65,535. Paul Brown Stadium is nicknamed "The Jungle", an allusion not only to the namesake
Bengal tiger'sThe Bengal tiger is a tiger subspecies native to the Indian subcontinent that in 2010 has been classified as endangered by IUCN...
natural habitat, but the
Guns N' RosesGuns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
song "
Welcome to the Jungle"Welcome to the Jungle" is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses, featured on its 1987 debut studio album, Appetite for Destruction. It was released as the band's second single on October 3, 1987, and reached number #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number #24 on the UK Singles Chart...
".
History
In 1996,
Hamilton CountyAs of 2000, there were 845,303 people, 346,790 households, and 212,582 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,075 people per square mile . There were 373,393 housing units at an average density of 917 per square mile...
voters passed a one-half percent
sales taxA sales tax is a tax, usually paid by the consumer at the point of purchase, itemized separately from the base price, for certain goods and services. The tax amount is usually calculated by applying a percentage rate to the taxable price of a sale....
increase to fund the building of two new home venues for both the Bengals and the
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
Cincinnati RedsThe Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
. Previously, the Bengals and the Reds shared tenancy of Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field, but both teams complained that the aging multipurpose facility lacked modern amenities and other things necessary for small market teams to survive. Paul Brown Stadium was built first. After the Bengals moved into Paul Brown Stadium, Cinergy Field was partially demolished to allow construction of what became
Great American Ball ParkThe Great American Ball Park is a Major League Baseball park in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the home of the National League's Cincinnati Reds. It opened in 2003, replacing the Reds' former home, Cinergy Field, which was known as Riverfront Stadium from its opening in June 1970 until the 1996...
and the field was sodded with natural grass. On December 29, 2002, Cinergy Field was demolished.
For the first four years, the field was natural
Kentucky BluegrassPoa is a genus of about 500 species of grasses, native to the temperate regions of both hemispheres. Common names include meadow-grass , bluegrass , tussock , and speargrass. "Poa" is Greek for fodder...
, but problems arose in maintaining it. At one point, the field was rated as the third-worst field in the league.
Hamilton CountyAs of 2000, there were 845,303 people, 346,790 households, and 212,582 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,075 people per square mile . There were 373,393 housing units at an average density of 917 per square mile...
explored other options and chose the
FieldTurfFieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by the FieldTurf Tarkett division of Tarkett Inc., based in Calhoun, Georgia, USA. In the late 1990s, the artificial surface changed the industry with a design intended to replicate real grass...
system. FieldTurf looks and feels like real grass, and since the field markings are actually sewn into the fabric, repainting between games is unnecessary. The reduced maintenance saves the county approximately
$The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
100,000 annually. Additionally, it opens Paul Brown Stadium to other uses without worry of damage to the turf. The FieldTurf was installed for the 2004 season. The field is one of only two stadiums in the NFL to have "five miles of piping running under the field to keep the rubber inlays heated.
Two light emitting diode (LED) video displays at either endzone, installed in 2000, ensure that every spectator has a good view of the on-field action. Over 200 feet of ribbon display was also installed along the fascia of the stadium.
The
University of CincinnatiThe University of Cincinnati is a comprehensive public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a part of the University System of Ohio....
BearcatsThe Cincinnati Bearcats football program represents the University of Cincinnati in a college football. They compete at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level as members of the Big East Conference. The Bearcat football program is one of the nation's oldest, having fielded a team as...
and the eventual
national championA college football national championship in the highest level of collegiate play in the United States, currently the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , is a designation awarded annually by various third-party organizations to their selection of the best...
Ohio State UniversityThe Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
BuckeyesThe Ohio State Buckeyes football team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of The Ohio State University. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the NCAA, playing at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, level. The team nickname is derived from the state...
played the first
college footballCollege football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
game at Paul Brown Stadium on September 21, 2002. On September 5, 2009, the
Kentucky WildcatsThe Kentucky Wildcats football team is a college football program that competes in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the East Division of the Southeastern Conference.-History:Paul "Bear" Bryant Era...
and the
Miami RedhawksThe Miami University RedHawks, known as the Miami Redskins before 1996, are a NCAA Division I FBS college football program that competes in the Mid-American Conference...
played their opening games there. The University of Cincinnati also played Oklahoma in 2010 at Paul Brown Stadium. In 2011, the
BearcatsThe Cincinnati Bearcats football program represents the University of Cincinnati in a college football. They compete at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level as members of the Big East Conference. The Bearcat football program is one of the nation's oldest, having fielded a team as...
played
Big East ConferenceThe Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...
opponents
Louisville CardinalsThe Louisville Cardinals are the athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. A member of the Big East Conference since 2005, they are known nationally as traditional powers in men's basketball, women's volleyball, and dance team...
and
West Virginia MountaineersThe West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams of West Virginia University. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Big East Conference. On July 1, 2012 the Mountaineers will switch conferences, moving from the Big East to the Big 12, becoming...
.
Additionally, the Macy's Music Festival (formerly the Cincinnati
JazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
Festival) is held there every year.
Unusual for a venue the size of Paul Brown Stadium, in the spring, it hosts the annual
Queen City-Official name:It is the official place name of two places in the United States:* Queen City, Missouri* Queen City, Texas-North America:* Allentown, Pennsylvania* Bangor, Maine* Beach Haven, New Jersey* Buffalo, New York* Burlington, Vermont...
Classic
ChessChess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
Tournament.
Paul Brown Stadium also houses the Bengals' administrative offices and training and practice facilities. There are three smaller practice fields nearby. Two are sodded with natural grass while the third is equipped with AstroTurf.
As a convenience for fans, for a nominal fee, several local busing companies offer round trip transportation to Paul Brown Stadium from designated locations throughout the Cincinnati and
Northern KentuckyNorthern Kentucky is the name often given to the northernmost counties in Kentucky...
area. One such example is the Cincinnati Metro's Jungle-to-Jungle Express, which originates at
Jungle Jim's International MarketJungle Jim's International Market, formerly Jungle Jim's Farmer's Market, is a large supermarket in Fairfield, Ohio, near Cincinnati. It has been described as a theme park of food...
in
FairfieldFairfield is a city in Butler County in the U.S. state of Ohio, near Cincinnati. Fairfield was incorporated in 1955. The population was 42,510 at the 2010 census. The city school district is one of the largest in Ohio, with Fairfield High School graduating 842 students in June 2009. Fairfield is...
, a suburb of Cincinnati.
Fans enjoy premium seating options in the 114 private suites and thousands of club seats. Amenities include in-seat food and beverage service and access to the club lounges for fine dining options. There are also several CPR units located throughout the stadium.
On-site retail merchandise sales are available in the Bengals pro shop, located on the plaza level on the north end of the stadium. There are fifty-six concession stands and eight stores.
Paul Brown Stadium is the only football stadium to make a list of
"America's favorite 150 buildings and structures," according to a Harris Interactive survey. Paul Brown Stadium ranked 101st on the list, whose range included all manner of major structures — skyscrapers, museums, churches, hotels, bridges, national memorials and more. No other football stadium was voted among the top 150, and among all sports venues, only
Wrigley FieldWrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...
(31) and Yankee Stadium (84) ranked higher than Paul Brown Stadium. NBBJ designed Paul Brown Stadium.
On Monday, November 14th, 2011, Cincinnati country radio station B-105 (WUBE) hosts Chris Carr & Co. announced that Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw will be hosting their "Brothers of the Sun" summer 2012 tour at Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday, July 1st, 2012. This will mark the first time a major concert has taken place at the stadium.
External links