Boomer Esiason is one of the most decorated quarterbacks in Cincinnati Bengals history. He’s one of two Bengals players to win the NFL MVP award, winning it in 1988 as the team made a run to the Super Bowl.
The franchise created a Ring of Honor in 2021 and made him one of its early inductees in 2023.
He’s invited to the Bengals’ Ring of Honor ceremony this year on Oct. 26 when Cincinnati hosts the New York Jets. But Esiason took issue with his invitation, which he read out loud to co-host Greg Giannotti on his radio show ‘Boomer & Gio’ this week.
‘The Bengals organization is excited to celebrate our legends community and kindly invite you and a guest to join us in celebrating Dave Lapham and Lemar Parrish on Ring of Honor weekend in October, culminating at our game on Sunday, October 26, when the Bengals take on the New York Jets,’ Esiason read. ‘More details are below, and we kindly ask you to RSVP no later than Friday, August 22. You and a guest can receive two complementary tickets with an opportunity to purchase an additional one, if you wish.’
So far, so good. Esiason then got to the part of the invite he found troublesome.
‘If you are traveling in for the weekend from out of town, we have secured a block of rooms at the Renaissance Hotel at a preferred discounted rate,’ Esiason continued. ‘Rooms are limited, so please book directly for the early and the best rate. We look forward to hosting you in The Jungle for an unforgettable weekend. Don’t hesitate to reach out to me or another guy on the staff with any questions. Thank you. And Who Dey.’
‘Who Dey?’ Giannotti said. ‘Who Dey think they are making you pay for your own hotel room?’
Esiason admitted he’s unsure about attending the ceremony after receiving that invitation.
‘You think I’m an elitist if I say no to that?’ Esiason said.
This news comes as the Bengals remain in a contract stalemate with reigning NFL sack leader Trey Hendrickson. The two sides seem far apart on total compensation as the season gets closer.
As that’s happening to a current Bengals player, both Esiason and Giannotti were surprised that the team won’t pay for hotel rooms for franchise legends.
Giannotti added that the email invite didn’t seem very personal – a surprise given how few people are in the Bengals’ Ring of Honor.
‘How many people are in a Ring of Honor now? Eight? All right, so they should be getting different emails than this generic email,’ he said.
There are 10 people currently in the Bengals’ Ring of Honor ahead of the 2025 class of cornerback Parrish and former guard and current radio analyst Lapham.
At least Esiason got an invite. Bengals career rushing leader Corey Dillon said on X that he didn’t receive an email invitation at all.
‘At least my guy Boomer got an invite and email ,’ Dillon wrote.
Bengals Ring of Honor members
Esiason is one of two quarterbacks in the Bengals’ Ring of Honor in addition to the team’s career passing leader Ken Anderson. Here’s a list of each member and their year of induction:
*=denotes player/coach inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
- Coach Paul Brown (2021)*
- QB Ken Anderson (2021)
- OT Anthony Muñoz (2021)*
- CB Ken Riley (2021)*
- WR Isaac Curtis (2022)
- OT Willie Anderson (2022)
- WR Chad Johnson (2023)
- QB Boomer Esiason (2023)
- DT Tim Krumrie (2024)
- RB Corey Dillon (2024)