CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Many agree that home games aren’t complete without tailgates, but one Cincinnati City Council member’s proposed motion is trying to see if it could be done more efficiently.
“I travel all across the country for Bengal’s games and some of the best tailgating in the country is right here in our beautiful city of Cincinnati,” Bengal Jim, avid Cincinnati football fan, said.
Tailgating before Bengal home games is a longstanding tradition with many fans, and Bengal Jim is no stranger to Tri-State tailgates.
He said the opening of the hilltop surface lot this season has satiated a lot of existing parking constraints.
“The parking situation prior to this year has been pretty difficult,” Jim explained. “My father-in-law used to walk a mile and a half after the game to get to his parking spot, but now he has a hilltop lot parking pass, so it’s extremely convenient, desperately needed parking.”
The county announced the purchase of this land earlier this year as part of a deal with the Bengals to add more parking and green space.
However, a new motion introduced to the council proposes turning that lot and the one next door into just park space.
“We want to support tailgating,” Councilmember Mark Jeffreys said. “It’s 8 to 10 times a year but the other 95% of the time, we want to make sure our residents and our visitors have an amazing experience on our riverfront.”
Hamilton County has a contractual obligation with the Bengals to provide 3,460 surface spaces.
While Council member Jeffreys’ motion would remove 1,371 of those spots from the hilltop and Lot E, he said additional spots would be identified near the stadium for tailgaters.
“I love the Bengals. I love tailgating. That is part of the whole experience,” Councilmember Mark Jeffreys said. “The question before us is, can we still maintain that experience close to the stadium and also make that green space? For example, there’s 1000 spaces at Longworth Hall. There’s at least another 1000 in Public Landing.”
“It’s going to impact tailgating, as well as people who come down to the games and don’t go tailgating, but it absolutely affects everyone that attends the Reds and Bengals games,” Jim stated.
Jeffreys is adamant they’re not eliminating parking spots, just looking to see if it’s feasible to relocate them in a move he says could bring new vibrancy to the riverfront.
“About 15 to 20 years ago, our riverfront was a dilapidated parking lot, and then we created Smale park and there’s an opportunity now to extend the park experience even further west rather than accepting it’s going to be a surface parking lot,” Jeffreys explained.
This motion is still in its early phases and Jeffreys said it’s possible to make those green spaces available for tailgaters to grill out on.
At this point, they are just looking to partner with the county to see if they can find available surface spots in existing tailgate locations to supplement the removal of the selected surface lots here at the riverfront.
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