The Browns’ ownership wants to move to the Cleveland suburb.
The next phase in the National Football League’s Cleveland Browns ownership’s quest to build a stadium in Brook Park, Ohio has begun. The Brook Park City Council has hired a law firm, Bricker Graydon of Cleveland, as its representative in the stadium-village negotiations with Browns’ owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam. Bricker Graydon was involved in the negotiations with the city of Columbus, Ohio and the Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew franchise’s ownership when the two sides worked out a deal to build a soccer stadium in the Ohio city. The Columbus Crew’s ownership group included Jimmy and Dee Haslam when the Columbus stadium deal was reached.
It is unclear how the Browns’ stadium project would be funded if it is built. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said in mid-December 2024, that “I’m in a fact gathering process at this point.” DeWine was reading the tea leaves in trying to figure out what was going on in Cleveland where some city and county leaders have slammed the door on giving Jimmy Haslam money for his Brook Park plan. Brook Park is 14 miles from Cleveland. As of now, the Haslams’ Brook Park stadium-village plan is estimated to cost $2.4 billion and the Haslams’ want half of the cost, $1.2 billion, to be picked up by Ohio taxpayers. That $2.4 billion figure is sure to rise. Brook Park, which has a population of around 19,000 people, is in no position to offer the Haslams hundreds of millions of dollars for the venue. The Haslams’ lease to use Cleveland’s present football venue ends at the end of the 2028 season. Cleveland’s Mayor Justin Bibb was willing to spend more than a half billion dollars in public funding to renovate the present city facility but the Haslams want to go to Brook Park where they think more revenue would be available. The stadium game in Cleveland continues.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
