Two Cuyahoga County politicians are not supporting the project.
Jimmy and Dee Haslam, who are the owners of the National Football League’s Cleveland Browns franchise, have a small problem on their hands. They want something done with their business’s stadium either a renovation of the present one in Cleveland or build a new one in Brook Park, Ohio which is about 14 miles southwest of the city. While the Haslams have dithered, two Cuyahoga County politicians have thrown cold water on the Brook Park plan. County Executive Chris Ronayne and Council President Pernel Jones Jr. have stated they will not support the project and will continue their efforts to renovate the existing Cleveland lakefront stadium. The two politicians said the Brook Park project does not make fiscal sense for local residents and taxpayers.
That is a blow to the Haslams who really cannot count on Brook Park taxpayers as the town has less than 19,000 residents to put up a billion dollars needed to build a stadium-village and that would leave politicians on the state level to decide if they want to throw money the Haslam’s way. Ohio legislators may also have to deal with the ownership of the National Football League’s Cincinnati Bengals franchise as there is a stadium issue ongoing in Cincinnati. The Haslam’s present 25-year-old stadium was built after then Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell took his version of the Cleveland Browns NFL franchise to Baltimore in 1995. Local Cleveland area politicians quickly cut a deal with the NFL with the promise of the NFL returning to Cleveland after a new stadium was built. The second version of the Cleveland Browns franchise took to the field in 1999. The stadium cost local taxpayers around $283 million. It will cost at least $600 million to renovate the present Cleveland stadium while the Brook Park project could cost $2 billion.
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