Mother Nature provided us an absolute gem of a weekend as we squeezed out dry and comfortable conditions between a pair of late-season heatwaves in Cincinnati. The trip began in Akron, where I met my brother as we made 5-hour drives from different starting points. After lunch at Diamond Deli, we continued through Ohio until reaching the southwest corner. I was hoping for a Dayton volleyball game or a rare FC Cincinnati Friday Night game, but schedules didn’t align and we instead grabbed dinner and played College Football ’25 in the hotel room for the rest of the night. This is peak happiness for a pair of 40 year-olds with kids.
First up on the stadium docket was the University of Cincinnati and a stadium that would become ranked #2 out of 264 for the overall experience and design. We got there around 9 AM and after a long walk from the Eden Parking Garage, festivities were ongoing across campus ahead of the Noon kickoff. Sunshine, 60 degrees, the band playing and tailgate smells in the air…there’s nothing better! UC is unique in that Nippert Stadium is not only in the middle of campus, it is intertwined with campus. So much so, that students go through it to get to classes during the week. It really is a special place and all of the attached and ingrained architecture combining old and new is great. The stadium is intimate and the design is solid as the surroundings enhance it. I really loved this place and the atmosphere matched as well with everyone decked out in red to make for a full house. The Bearcats were playing Pitt and despite obligatory chant against the Panthers, fans were all pretty cool with each other. We even ventured into the student section and a bunch of 20-somethings got along despite a few clashing colors.
This ended up being one of the greatest comebacks/collapses that I’ve seen at a game. Despite opening drive promise from Pitt, their offense was atrocious most of the time, while Cincy clicked on all cylinders. Brendan Sorsby threw for almost 300 yards in 3 quarters of play and Cory Kiner ran for over 100 as their lead grew to 27-6 with 20 minutes to go. Then, the game became the complete opposite. Pitt could do no wrong on offense while the ‘Cats were stuck in the mud. Despite missing a pair of two point conversions, they still completed the comeback as their final drive when it was 27-25 was aided by a rare defensive delay of game penalty on 4th and 4. Ben Sauls kicked a 35 yard field goal with 22 seconds left as the River City rivals stunned the crowd. Eli Holstein led the comeback with 302 yards passing and 3 touchdowns.
After the game, we walked down Short Vine (a street) and was looking for an early dinner at a Jamaican place (Island Frydays) but was really disappointed that you couldn’t eat inside the restaurant. We walked further down and settled on El Taco Veloz, which did the job. A couple stops followed, first to the scenic outlook at Mount Echo and then to Rhinegeist Brewery before calling it a night. The Bengals and Paycor Stadium were next for Sunday and the $15 garage we choose at 7th / Elm was perfect for the price and traffic, plus a little tour of downtown. I didn’t get to do that on my first trip to Cincy as we explored The Banks for the Reds game, so this time I stopped by Fountain Square before continuing on. There was a buzz in the area as everyone was excited for the home opener and the fan fest outside the stadium was full of orange. Walking around the stadium, I noticed the facility was kind of dull with a lot of bland concrete and that continued in the concourse (give me some displays or at least the color orange). This was a sign as the more I explored, the more I found a general lack of care. Our last row seats were full of cobwebs, sinks in the bathroom had very little water pressure and the worst part was just 2 small escalators (with no signage) leading to the upper deck. Despite my best efforts, I got on the wrong side and exhausted after lengthy exploring, I was despondent when learning I had to go back down the stairs to the 100 level and then back up the other sideline. It is an atrocious display of directing and concourse flow. On the positive side, the look of the stadium is good and sitting on the west side of the stadium features a fantastic view of the skyline and the Roebling Bridge.
As for the game….eesh. All the signs were there for this not to go well for the home side: 1) Big favorites don’t typically do well on Week One, 2) The JaMarr situation, 3) New England has a fresh look with Belichick gone, 4) The Bengals have struggled early in the season with Burrow. This all led to a 16-10 defeat with Cincinnati getting shutout in the first half and only having 224 total yards. They also never got a three-and-out as New England’s Rhamondre Stevenson ran for 120.
Despite the two disappointments from each Cincinnati squad this past weekend, we had a blast on this trip and they were two places high on the list for checking out. For detailed reviews, check back over the next week or so as I’ll post them when complete below:
Nippert Stadium Detailed Review
Paycor Stadium Detailed Review
Stadium and Arena Visits 
