Tom Groeschen

tgroeschen@enquirer.com

Athletic director Mike Bohn hopes the University of Cincinnati will draw its customary crowds of 30,000-plus this year at Paul Brown Stadium, the Bearcats' temporary home for 2014.

UC opens its season against Toledo on Friday (7 p.m.) at PBS, which the Bearcats will share with the Bengals this season.

UC's Nippert Stadium is undergoing an $86 million renovation and expansion from 35,000 to 40,000 seats. The Bearcats will not return to their campus home until the 2015 season.

UC will bus the 3.1 miles from their Clifton campus to the Bengals' 65,515-seat Downtown facility for 2014 home games.

"The goal is 30,000 or more (fans) for every game," Bohn said. "Our season tickets are trending up, and we're encouraged by that."

Bohn said UC has sold more than 14,000 season tickets, including more than 2,100 student packages. Bohn said UC enjoyed an 82 percent renewal rate on season tickets from last year, with more than 1,000 new season ticket holders.

UC also is jazzing things up for its year Downtown, including "Bearcats At The Banks" gameday festivals and postgame Rozzi fireworks for the Toledo game. There also may be fireworks at other games.

"What better way to salute the hottest college in America?" Bohn said, echoing the mantra of UC President Santa Ono.

UC has played occasionally at PBS, most recently in 2011. Playing a full season at PBS is another matter, with rent and other arrangements having to be sorted out.

Bob Bedinghaus, the Bengals' director of business development, said the UC-Bengals relationship has never been better. UC approached the Bengals last year about sharing PBS in 2014, and the two parties were able to agree on things fairly quickly.

"There is more of a sense of trying to bring the two organizations closer," Bedinghaus said. "The coaches have always been quick to communicate with each other, but from an administrative end we never really had too much of a relationship with anybody. We've had Santa Ono and Mike Bohn down for lunch. I think we're developing a mutually positive relationship."

Under terms of their lease with Hamilton County, which owns the stadium, the Bengals are entitled to 50 percent of the rent while the other 50 percent goes to the county.

UC will pay the same rental fee to play at PBS that it paid when the Bearcats played there before. That is based on a sliding scale, which begins with UC paying 10 percent of the first $1 million in ticket revenue per game played there. One difference now is that the Bengals will return their share of the rent to UC.

"We have agreed to donate back to the university 100 percent of our share of the rent," Bedinghaus said. "We also agreed to let them sell their merchandise without any fee. Everything else is the same."

The Bengals normally would get a 20 percent cut of all merchandise revenue, but they waived that for UC this year. The Bengals and the county will split the money from parking and concessions on a 50-50 basis.

UC will have the American Athletic Conference logo on the field during its games at PBS. The Bearcats also will have wall banners to "brand" the stadium as theirs on game days. Bengals branding will remain at midfield and in the end zones during UC games.

The Bengals and UC also are borrowing each other's practice facilities on an ongoing basis, free of charge. The Bearcats occasionally practice at PBS, and the Bengals sometimes use UC's indoor bubble when late-season weather turns nasty.

UC averaged 31,771 fans per game at Nippert Stadium last year. Bearcats coach Tommy Tuberville is not sure what to expect at PBS.

"This is kind of just a fun year for us to go down there and play," Tuberville said. "It's really not a home-field advantage for us because we're not on campus. It's not a regular routine for us, but we just look forward to playing."

UC players are taking the move in stride. Some players participated in UC's last visit to PBS in 2011, and many played in NFL stadiums last year at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium and Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium (Belk Bowl).

"I actually don't think it matters how big the stadium is," UC senior cornerback Adrian Witty said. "It doesn't matter how many people are in the stands. You come out and play ball for your brothers and try to win championships."

UC sophomore safety Zach Edwards said he played in PBS for Middletown High School in 2008 as part of the Kirk Herbstreit prep series.

"It's not Nippert Stadium, but I believe Paul Brown is going to be good for us," Edwards said. "You have to adapt to different things like the hashes, the yard marks, but it should be a great thing for us to play Downtown."¦

UC home attendance since 2009

(Nippert Stadium games)

Year – Home Games – Average

2013 – 6 – 31,771

2012 – 7 – 29,138

2011 – 4* - 26,159

2010 – 6* - 31,203

2009 – 6 - #33,957

*Does not include home games held at Paul Brown Stadium. In 2011, UC averaged 44,562 for two home games (against West Virginia and Louisville) at Paul Brown Stadium. In 2010, UC drew 58,253 for a game against Oklahoma at Paul Brown Stadium.

#Nippert season record