Browns ownership wants a new stadium, while Bengals ownership wants a renovation of the present facility.
In Ohio, the National Football League’s Cleveland Browns’ ownership and the National Football League’s Cincinnati Bengals’ ownership are looking for public money for a new stadium in the Cleveland market and a renovated stadium in Cincinnati. Ohio’s Governor Mike DeWine has listened to the pleas of the Haslam family in Cleveland and the Brown family in Cincinnati and thinks he has come up with a plan to satisfy both ownership’s needs. Using state sports gambling money to help fund a Browns’ facility in Brook Park, Ohio or renovate the Cleveland stadium and provide funding for a Cincinnati football stadium renovation. Time is of the essence in Cincinnati where the lease between the Brown family’s Bengals and Cincinnati and Hamilton County officials ends in 2026. The Haslams’ lease in Cleveland is up in 2028.
DeWine’s proposal would raise the state’s tax on sports gambling companies’ gross Ohio revenues from 20 percent to 40 percent and would produce hundreds of millions of dollars for the two projects. “Ohio citizens are giving, every single day, millions of dollars to the sports gaming companies,” DeWine said. “It’s time for us to raise the tax on them so that we can do things to help Ohioans. It seems to me a very logical approach.” The Haslams want $600 million from the state and $600 million from various local governments to help pay for a Browns’ stadium-village in Brook Park not Cleveland. City of Cleveland officials want the Haslams to stay. What to do with the Cincinnati stadium is a complex question. For instance should Hamilton County, Cincinnati and Ohio taxpayers kick in to help fund the cost of putting a dome on the stadium? That is one concept that Hamilton County officials are discussing. The cost of putting a lid on the stadium? Roughly one billion dollars. The Ohio stadium game continues.
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