Browns fans react to news of new stadium, move to Brook Park
Fans gave their reactions after team owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam announced the Cleveland Browns are moving to Brook Park to build a new dome stadium.
Northeast Ohioans could be days away from knowing whether the Cleveland Browns will move their home games from downtown Cleveland to Brook Park once the lease at Huntington Bank Field ends in 2028.
The Ohio General Assembly has agreed to the Senate’s proposal to help the Browns pay for a new suburban stadium and entertainment district near Cleveland-Hopkins Airport as part of the state budget. Lawmakers will vote June 25 to agree on the final budget changes before Gov. Mike DeWine gives his final approval, which he must do before July 1.
How would the cost of the Browns stadium be covered?
The budget would give Ohio legislatures control of $1.7 billion in unclaimed funds, with $600 million reserved for the new Browns stadium. It sets aside $400 million for other stadium projects and $700 million for purposes yet to be determined.
What are unclaimed funds?
Ohio currently sits on $4.8 billion in unclaimed funds. The funds used for the Browns stadium and other stadium projects across the state would come from Ohioans’ abandoned paychecks and security deposits that haven’t been claimed after a decade or longer.
What were the other options for paying for a new Browns stadium in Brook Park?
The Senate proposal was one of three different plans for the Brook Park stadium. House Republicans proposed a $600 million bond − which would cost $1 billion with interest − while DeWine wanted to raise the sports gaming tax to help pay for the stadium.
If the Browns build a new stadium, when would it be ready?
The Browns want to break ground on a domed stadium in Brook Park in 2026 so that it will be ready for the 2029 NFL season.
Cleveland officials sue to keep Browns downtown
The city of Cleveland is currently in an ongoing legal battle with the Cleveland Browns’ ownership over the idea of moving the stadium out of Cleveland. The city filed a lawsuit against the Haslam Sports Group, which owns the Browns, in an attempt to keep the team downtown.
City officials said they worked with Browns ownership on developing the lakefront and playing in a new stadium situated on the lake. The Haslam Sports Group insisted that wasn’t the case and they are prepared to move elsewhere.
“We have offered a viable proposal to keep the Browns playing on the lakefront in a reimagined stadium as the centerpiece of a huge lakefront development — for half the cost to the public of the dome in Brook Park,” Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb said in a May statement. “We have invested hundreds of millions in downtown Cleveland. The Haslam Brook Park scheme will burden taxpayers and damage downtown to benefit billionaires.
“It is disingenuous and insulting to say — as the Haslams do in their recent federal court filing — that the city doesn’t have a competitive plan for the lakefront,” Bibb said.
The state budget would also modify the Modell Law, which restricts the movement of professional sports teams that use facilities paid for with taxpayer money. The change would bar teams from leaving Ohio but allow them to move within the state.
The Modell Law is the primary basis behind the city’s lawsuit against the Browns.
Former Ohio leaders to sue if unclaimed fund plan succeeds
Calling the plans to use unclaimed funds to pay for the Brook Park stadium an unconstitutional and illegal funding scheme, former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann and former state Rep. Jeff Crossman announced June 25 they will immediately file a lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court if the plan passes.
“This is not state property,” Crossman said during a news conference the same day. “These funds belong to all those hard-working Ohioans across the state with forgotten savings accounts, uncashed checks or overpaid utility bills.”
Crossman and Dann said they would file a class action lawsuit against Treasurer Robert Sprague and officials in the Ohio Department of Commerce for violating Ohioans’ due process and private property rights. The lawsuit would be filed on behalf of three unnamed Cuyahoga County residents as well as those Ohioans with unclaimed funds.
“If they pass this proposal, we’re warning the Legislature − they’re getting a lawsuit,” Crossman said. “The governor has the right to veto it out of the budget. They should go back to the drawing board. Better yet, tell these billionaires to pay for their own private stadiums.”
The Columbus Dispatch contributed to this report.
This story has been updated.
Reporter Anthony Thompson can be reached at ajthompson@gannett.com, or on Twitter @athompsonABJ
