Cincinnati Bengals president Mike Brown will miss his first normal season game in franchise history on Thursday, he told the team’s website.
The team’s top executive said he won’t go to Thursday’s down against the Cleveland Browns due to COVID-19 concerns.
“I’m the age I am and I check all the boxes and I’m told it’s foolish to do it,” Brown told Bengals.com about traveling to Cleveland for the game. “It comes down to a decision, and maybe it’s time to start doing stuff like this. I’m just at the age I have to go about life a little differently.”
Except for one preseason game, the 85-year-old Brown has gone to each bengal game since his dad, Paul, begun the franchise in 1968. The nonattendance came in August 1991, when his dad passed on and he took over as team president.
“Wrenching,” said Brown, who has not held a formal news conference since before the 2019 season. “I miss not going. I want to go.”
Katie Blackburn, Brown’s daughter and the team’s executive VP, is relied upon to be at FirstEnergy Stadium for the prime-time game.
