Ohio and the AFC North could look very different in a few years, with both the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns updating their respective stadium situations.

The Bengals announced Thursday that they have agreed terms with Hamilton County on a new lease for Paycor Stadium, a move which ensures the team will remain at its long-time home through June 2036, with 10 additional option years that could extend the lease through June 2046. The new agreement allows the Bengals to take a ‘reasonable approach’ to modernising the 25-year-old venue.

“This is a significant day for the Bengals and Hamilton County as we secure the team’s future in Cincinnati,” Bengals EVP Katie Blackburn was quoted by the tem’s website. “We thank the Hamilton County commissioners for supporting this agreement to ensure Paycor Stadium remains an excellent venue and a focal point for Cincinnati’s riverfront. We are proud to call Paycor Stadium our home and to keep our future here in Cincinnati, where it belongs.”

The Bengals have played at Paycor — and under its original guise as Paul Brown Stadium — since 2000, when the new venue formed a focal point in the transformation of Cincinnati’s riverfront, and now contribute in excess of $1bn to the local economy. The $470mn renovation project will ensure the viability of the stadium to host not only football games, but also major concerts and other events, and the Bengals have agreed to invest $120m to cover 75 percent of improvements, a notable concession at a time where other NFL cities are being asked to contribute towards vastly more expensive new stadium projects.

One such project appears closer to reality across the state, where the Browns have been given the green light to build its much-hyped indoor stadium in suburban Brook Park. The state Senate and House of Representatives separately approved a budget that includes $600m — to be paid back via tax revenues from the project — towards construction of the venue, which will replace the outdoor Huntingdon Bank Stadium currently used by the Browns. The Brook Park site, land adjacent to Cleveland Hopkins Airport, is closer to the team’s training facility in Berea, and is expected to cost in the region of $2.4bn to develop into the planned stadium and entertainment quarter. The Haslam Sports Group had pledged $1.2bn in private funding, plus covering potential overruns, as part of the agreement, and have set their sights on completion by the 2029 season, conveniently falling just after the current lease on Huntingdon Bank Stadium expires.

The Browns are the first revealed beneficiary of the state’s newly-created Sports and Culture Facility Fund, which will take $1.7bn from an estimated $4.8bn in unclaimed funds and use it specifically for the ‘renovation and construction of sports and cultural facilities’. The Bengals are also expected to benefit from the fund as part of the agreement to renovate Paycor Stadium. Lawsuits levied against the Browns by the city of Cleveland are also expected to be voided by an updated version of the Modell Law as the team will remain in Cuyahoga County. The city was leaning in favour of renovating the team’s current stadium, which opened in 1999 on the site of the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

According to The Athletic, Ohio governor Mike DeWine — who previously proposed doubling the state tax on sports betting to raise money for new stadia — can still veto any part of the budget before the end of the month.