CINCINNATI -- The Cincinnati Bengals have been so bad this season that government officials are wondering if they have violated their agreement to play in Paul Brown Stadium.

Hamilton County's three commissioners want to know if the Bengals' failure to field a competitive team violates the lease. The commissioners unanimously voted Wednesday to ask county prosecutor Michael Allen for a legal opinion on the subject.

The Bengals are 0-6 this season and 10-28 since moving into the stadium, a taxpayer-financed, county-owned facility that opened in September 2000. They have sold out just seven of 19 home games.

Voters in 1996 approved a half-cent increase in the county's sales tax to generate money to build new stadiums for both the Bengals and baseball's Cincinnati Reds. The Reds' new stadium is to open next April.

Allen's office had not formally received the commissioners' request on Thursday. The commissioners are asking for a review of the lease and a legal opinion whether it's possible to sue the Bengals over the lease.

Commissioner Todd Portune referred to a sentence in the lease that says the sales tax increase for the stadiums was needed to keep competitive and viable major league football and baseball teams in Cincinnati.

"Has the long losing record of poor performances on the field risen to violate the express or implied conditions of the agreement?'' Portune said.

Bengals spokesman Jack Brennan declined to respond Thursday.