For all intents and purposes, the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals have the NFL’s best, most competitive rivalry right now. Even for a pending, otherwise anodyne Week 2 matchup, the Bengals seem to really want to capitalize on the competitiveness of these teams’ back-and-forth.
According to Jay Morrison of the Pro Football Network, the Bengals are holding a fan watch party at the club level of their home stadium for Cincinnati’s road game vs. the Chiefs this Sunday. Tickets will run people $99, and, in a key distinction, they can pay $25 for discounted concessions. There are some cool tidbits of fan service, like meeting Bengals legends and walking the playing field a tad.
But still, paying upwards of $100 (likely closer to $200 with the discounted concessions if you’re bringing the entire family) to watch your team’s road game at the stadium is way too brazen for my tastes:
The #Bengals are trying something new and holding a watch party at Paycor on Sunday for the game in Kansas City.
Tickets are $99 and include a $25 toward discounted concessions.
Tickets available at: https://t.co/5hE5AcGpCs.
— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) September 11, 2024
If you have the expendable money to spend hundreds of dollars on a regular-season watch party road affair in the middle of September, all power to you. The Bengals understand there would likely be plenty of people willing to shell this money out. If someone’s willing to pay for it, there’s a market for it.
And that’s the issue in itself: The Bengals are shamelessly selling a rivalry at all costs. We’ll see how this bold plan shakes out.