CINCINNATI, Ky. — Even highly talented Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow knows: in the game of football, there’s a lot of luck involved.
That’s true as well for fans. A group of them who attended the Bengals’ Thursday Night Football matchup with the Miami Dolphins on Sept. 29 might just be the luckiest bunch of fans there are.
What You Need To Know
- Amazon selected 10 Prime customers in the Cincinnati area to attend a VIP game day experience at Paycor Stadium, along with a plus one
- Fans got to tailgate outside of the stadium, watch the game from a suite, and access the field before and after the game
- One pair of fans say the game helped them escape the path of Hurricane Ian
- Another pair, both confined to wheelchairs, got to experience a Bengals game for the first time
In celebrating its inaugural year broadcasting Thursday Night Football for the National Football League, Amazon randomly selected 10 Prime customers in the Cincinnati area who had added TNF to their watch list on Prime Video.
They each got an invitation to a VIP game day experience, including a plus one. Many of them, quite literally, couldn’t believe it.
“So I was at work, and I got an email. And it said RSVP now for your free tickets. So I clicked it. I’m like, yeah, it’s probably fake. Funny part, I’m an IT manager, and I clicked on the link. Shouldn’t be doing that, man,” said Connor Hug.
It was a similar experience for Lisa Walder.
“I look at my phone. This happens. And it’s like: do you want to watch a game? So I’m thinking it’s on TV. Then they send you an email that had these tickets, and I’m like, ah man, we’re actually going to the game.” she said. “Then my family started saying it’s a scam. Because anybody that I talked to that had Prime was like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t get that email.”’
Cameron Butler, too, thought the same.
“Maybe it’s fake. Maybe it’s a scam. But it won’t hurt to try,” he said. “It said send your jersey size and number you want on it. So I’m like, I guess it’s the real deal. So here we are.”
The other thing about football: it’s so much more than a game. That’s something that can be hard to understand for people who aren’t diehard fans. And it’s different for all of them.
For some, like Hug and the recipient of his extra ticket, Tyler Daniel, it’s camaraderie.
“We actually met last year. He’s got season tickets, so do I. He sits right in front of me,” Daniel said.
It was a friendship born in Paul Brown Stadium, now renamed Paycor Stadium. So when it came time for Hug to bring along someone for this experience, it was a simple decision.
“I get the tickets. First call, my buddy Tyler,” Hug said.
“He said check your email. So I did,” Daniel said. “We’re going back to where we met. It’s necessary. Bring the bromance back together.”
Football can even be lifesaving. Some might call that a stretch, but they haven’t talked to another pair of best friends in Amazon’s group that night. Both men, Chris Bolton and Steve Winans, recently moved from Cincinnati to Florida.
“Tuesday morning, we were on the road when we found out Hurricane Ian was going through our home. It’s kind of funny, but it’s almost as if Amazon was looking out for us and got us out of harm’s way. God love ‘em,” Bolton said. “It’s already surreal. You can’t believe that it’s actually happening. That we’re actually getting to do something like this.”
Winans said he received his wife’s blessing to go.
“I am on Cloud 9. 17 years, season ticket holder. I’ve seen so many great games. But this one is gonna be by far my best experience in this stadium. I’ve never gotten to go down on the field," he said. "I can’t even process how amazing this is. This is going to be a story that I will tell for the rest of my life."
Football is also an escape, not just from danger, but from the challenges of everyday life. Lisa Walder and Melvin Walder both use wheelchairs. So for them, just getting to the stadium would be difficult on a normal day.
“I’ve never been to a Bengals game before. Never been in that stadium before,” Lisa Walder said.
On a normal day, as the game draws near, fans make their way into the stadium, and to their seats. This was not a normal day for these fans, so for them, pregame warmups were spent on the sideline.
“Unreal. Unreal, man. This is crazy. This is fantastic,” Daniel said.
Winans took a selfie, the field behind him, with a huge smile.
“Amazing. My wife and kids are going to hate me,” he said, laughing in disbelief.
Watching Burrow warm up his arm was enough to bring some to tears.
How about watching the team’s pregame ritual, “Ruler of the Jungle,” just feet away from the throne? Better yet, the group of fans watched the Bengals score their first touchdown of the night there as well.
Football is believing superstitions work. Because sometimes they do, as one of the fans could attest to. He rubbed imaginary wads of cash together between his fingers and thumbs, as Bengals kicker Evan “Money Mac” McPherson successfully kicked a field goal.
From a suite that was pretty sweet, the fans watched their favorite team beat the previously undefeated Dolphins. The game broke the record for highest attendance in stadium history.
The answers to whether the experience had lived up to their expectations seemed obvious from their faces. They were asked anyway, just for fun.
“No. It’s exceeded it by far. By miles,” Bolton said.
Cameron’s invited guest, Kayla Walker, seemed to still be in disbelief. “Honestly, and more,” she said. “I’m crying. This is amazing for real.”
Cameron chimed in: “It’s not a scam. Definitely not a scam.”
Walder answered similarly. “Oh my god, no, this is better than what I thought.”
And the “bromance” was alive and well. “It was a blast. Hell of time,” Hug said.
But the night was not done yet. There was one more trip down to, and this time, on to, the field. Because, for these fans, the only thing that could’ve topped watching touchdowns in the Bengals’ end zone was catching them. Each fan received a ball to try to recreate some of their favorite plays. Winans caught one in stride.
“Where’s my five million dollar contract, baby? Come on, sign me up!” he said. “Totally epic, man. I caught a touchdown in the endzone, and ran it, like, holy crap. My dad is in heaven looking down, like, ‘you lucky son of a bitch.’ Thanks dad. Love you.”
One of the biggest companies in the world doesn’t need Spectrum News to promote them, nor was that the intention in covering the story. Getting the chance to see up close why, to these people, football is magic, was something too enticing to pass up.