Bengals game deserted

'You have a feeling of being shortchanged'

? Scalpers hung out on empty street corners, offering high-priced tickets for bargain rates. Vendors stood by carts crammed with Bengals gear, waiting for a customer to come into sight.

In the parking lot closest to 65,341-seat Paul Brown Stadium, a few dozen fans grilled sausages, sipped beer and marveled at the scene.

“You mean, in other NFL cities it’s different?” joked Bret Ramsey of Bellevue, Ky.

There’s nothing quite like Cincinnati on an NFL game day — the empty streets, the empty seats, the empty parking lots, the surreal scene leading up to kickoff.

“You have a feeling of being shortchanged. That’s the best way to put it,” said Angelo Iacono, 29, of Fort Thomas, Ky. “You feel shortchanged, even though we didn’t pay for the tickets.”

Tens of thousands of tickets were available Sunday for the Bengals’ final home game, a stunning 20-13 victory over the New Orleans Saints. Anyone could get a ticket, for just about any price.

Three scalpers huddled on a street corner one block from the stadium, offering $54 tickets for $20. Two hours before kickoff, there had been only one taker.

“We’re trying to figure out which cloud he fell out of,” joked one scalper, who declined to give his name.

Scalping tickets is legal in Cincinnati. It’s also the toughest selling job in town.

“Anybody who tells you they’re making money is lying,” said another scalper in a hooded coat, also declining to give his name. “It’s been bad. Why do we even come out here?”

That was the theme of the pregame show on the Bengals’ local radio station. One caller after another insisted there was no reason for anybody to go, even if they’d already bought tickets.

Ticket-takers wait for fans to arrive at Paul Brown Stadium prior to a game between the Bengals and Saints. Tens of thousands of tickets were available Sunday in Cincinnati.

“Cut your losses, get on with your life,” said Chuck, a caller from suburban Montgomery. “If you hit your thumb with a hammer, do you want to continue to do it?”

Apparently not. The Bengals’ last three home games drew the three smallest crowds in the stadium’s three-year history. The Bengals sold only 43,544 tickets for Sunday’s game, the second-smallest gate of the season.

There were perhaps 25,000 to 30,000 fans in the stands for the team’s first home win of the season. The Bengals are 2-13, and a loss Sunday in Buffalo will stamp them as the worst team in franchise history.

As kickoff approached, downtown streets were mostly deserted. Vendor Chris Mattingly would go five minutes without a fan passing his street-corner cart loaded with Bengals and Saints merchandise.

“I’m praying that a few people want peanuts,” he said. “That’s the only chance I’ve got. They don’t want that Bengals stuff. They don’t want anything with ‘Bengals’ on it.”