The Bengals don’t have plans to leave when the team’s lease at Paul Brown Stadium expires in 2026, Bengals owner Mike Brown told The Enquirer.

A Hamilton County politician’s recent speculation on the Bengals’ possible departure perturbed Brown, he made clear in an interview.

“That’s silly talk,” Brown told The Enquirer

Brown gave a passionate refutation, pounding his desk at times, to comments made recently by Hamilton County Commission president Todd Portune.

It may portend a war of words and legal action as the Bengals and Hamilton County bicker over exactly what stadium maintenance the current lease requires from county taxpayers — and as both sides start negotiations for extending the lease past 2026.

Amid the talk of building a soccer stadium in November, Portune held a press conference in which he  alluded to the fact the Bengals might not be around after 2026.

The Bengals and Hamilton County in 1997 signed a 30-year lease after voters approved a half-cent sales tax to build Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ballpark.

Portune said in his comments that the Bengals have not indicated they would leave. But the county should prepare for the possibility.

“We’re going to work very hard to make sure the Bengals stay in Cincinnati and continue to play at Paul Brown Stadium,” Portune said. “In the event those naysayers, those downward looking individuals in terms of our future, that what they’re saying comes to pass, we cannot have, we should not have, a stadium on the riverfront, 65,000 seats, a half a billion dollars in cost, sitting empty without a tenant playing at that facility.”

When asked about this statement, Mike Brown criticized Portune’s comments as political theater.

“How the hell would he know whether we’re going to be here or not?” Brown said. “I plan to be here. I stayed here when I had the opportunity to move this team.”

 Brown said he could have moved the team for “millions of dollars more” in the 1990s.  He said he’s shown he wants to stay in Cincinnati.