The Big Ben Era

Lore & Background

Former Cleveland Browns head coach Paul Brown began planning for the creation of the Bengals franchise in 1965, and Cincinnati's city council approved the construction of Riverfront Stadium in 1966. Finally, in 1967, the Bengals were founded when a group headed by Brown received franchise approval by the American Football League (AFL) on May 23, 1967, and they began play in the 1968 season. Brown was the Bengals' head coach from their inception. After being dismissed as the Browns' head coach by Art Modell in January (year unclear from source), Brown showed interest in establishing another NFL franchise in Ohio and looked at both Cincinnati and Columbus.

He ultimately chose the former when a deal between the city, Hamilton County, and Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds was struck that resulted in an agreement to build a multipurpose stadium. Due to the impending merger of the AFL and the NFL, Brown agreed to join the AFL as its 10th and final franchise. After Paul Brown's death in 1991, controlling interest in the team was inherited by his son, Mike Brown. In 2011, Brown purchased shares of the team owned by the estate of co-founder Austin Knowlton and is now the majority owner of the Bengals franchise.

Reader's Guide

The Bengals won the AFC championship in (years unclear from source), and after each of the 1981 and 1988 conference championships, they went on to lose to the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowls XVI and XXIII. The team struggled greatly in the 1990s and early 2000s. The turning point was during the 2021 season, when they won their first playoff game in 31 years and advanced to Super Bowl LVI, where they lost to the Los Angeles Rams 23–20. They advanced to the AFC Championship game again in 2022 but lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 23–20. The team does not have an official general manager; Duke Tobin is the de facto general manager.

Did You Know?

• The Bengals were named to give a link with past professional football in Cincinnati; another Cincinnati Bengals team existed from 1937 to 1942.
• Paul Brown chose the exact shade of orange used by his former team, the Cleveland Browns, and added black as the secondary color.
• The Bengals began play in the 1968 season at Nippert Stadium before moving to Riverfront Stadium in 1970.
• In a Forbes article as of August 2022, the Cincinnati Bengals were ranked last among NFL teams with a value of $3 billion.