Full speed ahead to Brook Park?
What is going on in Cleveland in the Cleveland Browns stadium saga? It appears Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb has thrown in the towel and is ready to let the National Football League’s Cleveland franchise move out of the city to an area about 14 miles away in Brook Park. “We gotta move on. If they go to Brook Park, God bless them, good luck. But, by hell or high water, we are going to develop a lakefront our residents can be proud of. But, it’s important that the city of Cleveland is not left empty-handed. That we don’t have an abandoned stadium downtown.”
Jimmy and Dee Haslam, the owners of the Browns franchise, want Ohio taxpayers’ money to help fund a Browns stadium-village in Brook Park. The Haslams purchased a 176-acre parcel that could easily house a stadium-village. The stadium would have a dome and could get a Super Bowl or a Men’s College Basketball Final Four weekend, events that are now given to areas as a reward to politicians who allocated taxpayers’ money for a venue. The Haslams have said the project which will include a stadium, retail and residential space will cost around $2.4 billion to complete. The Haslams want half of that money from Ohio taxpayers. Ohio politicians may want to help the Haslams by throwing at least $600 million at their proposed project but there is a problem. Where do the state politicians find the money? Maybe it comes from Ohio sports gambling, maybe it comes from another pot of money. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine wants to please the Haslams. Certain state elected politicians want to please the Haslams, the same probably cannot be said about local politicians in the Cleveland area. The Haslams’ stadium lease in Cleveland is up in 2028. Financing remains a problem.
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
