Bengals Reach Peak Cincinnati With Sponsorship Deal Involving Incredibly Divisive Local Dish

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I don’t think it’s a huge stretch to suggest most people aren’t intimately familiar with what the city of Cincinnati has to offer with the possible exception of the zoo where the sweet prince Harambe was taken from us far too soon in 2016.

That attraction is also linked to what is arguably Cincy’s most notable asset: the Bengals, the NFL franchise that came into existence in 1968 (interestingly enough, the team—and the AFL squad who originally went by the nickname—actually predates the white tiger breeding program the zoo started in the 1970s before abandoning it in 2018).

Cincinnati is also home to plenty of quality restaurants, but there’s one longtime local staple that’s associated with the city more than any other: the fairly divisive dish known as “Skyline Chili.”

That name technically refers to the chain of restaurants that formed after the original location opened up in Cincinnati in 1949, but it’s inextricably linked with its signature dish: the chili that is traditionally poured over a bowl of spaghetti and covered in shredded cheese.

I have not personally had the chance to have the Skyline Chili Experience, so while I can’t chime on its merits, I do know there are plenty of critics who do not understand the hype in addition to slews of loyal fans and local residents who defend it as a matter of pride.

Sports fans who attend a Reds game in Cincinnati can help themselves to some Skyline Chili inside the comfort of the venue, but anyone who’s wanted to chow down on some while cheering on the Bengals in person has historically had to sneak it into the stadium or rely on the competing Gold Star variety that vendors served.

However, that’s finally changed, as the team announced Skyline Chili will now be sold at games after inking the sponsorship deal that has made it the “Official Chili of the Cincinnati Bengals.”

Congratulations to the Bengals for achieving Peak Cincy.