Cincinnati Sports Bring World Spotlight to the Area
When someone compliments you on the great season Cincinnati’s football team had this year and you say, “Which team?” You know it’s been a special time.
From the NFL playoff game between the Bengals and Raiders to the ESPN Game Day experience at the University of Cincinnati’s campus to support the College Football Playoff-bound Bearcats, the city has shown it can host, and support, big events, including the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Not even a snow squall and below-freezing temperatures could keep fans from attending a pep rally in Cincinnati the Friday before the AFC Championship to support their team. And once the Bengals were LA-bound, so many fans wanted to head West that the major airline carriers at the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport added more than a dozen flights to accommodate the demand.
Cincinnati is ready for the world stage with the right players at the table, including our 2026 Cincy Community Collaborative with local business, government and civic leaders. Many of these civic partners came together during Super Bowl Week at the Cincinnati Media Center, as representatives from the Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau, JobsOhio, Cincinnati Experience, REDI Cincinnati, Film Cincinnati and ArtsWave traveled to California to preach the gospel of living, working and playing in the Greater Cincinnati area.
All that would not have been possible without the sponsors who supported the Media Center, including Cincinnati Bell for Technology and Super Thursday host, John Morrell for breakfast and lunch for the media, Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Kroger Foundation and partner, Meals on Wheels Southwest Ohio & Northern Kentucky, on Friday to share their story on food innovation and sustainability ahead of Super Bowl Sunday, Jeff Ruby Steakhouse, Cincy Shirts and ArtsWave for media gifts along Airheads with sweet treats for guests.
The Bengals’ playoff run helped generate total media stories of 179,701 with impressions totaling 99 billion with a value of a whopping $4.3 billion for the Greater Cincinnati area. Those figures show that with the support of civic, business sponsor partnerships, Cincinnati is firmly on the world stage—and has no plans to exit anytime soon.