The Haslams want to be in Brook Park by the end of the decade.
It appears the decks have been cleared and the National Football League Cleveland Browns owners, Jimmy and Dee Haslam, will be able to attempt to build a National Football League stadium-village in Brook Park, a Cleveland suburb that is about 14 miles from downtown. Haslam Sports Group paid $76,005,477.90 for a 176-acre parcel in Brook Park. Two other pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place. Ohio lawmakers want to give the Haslams $600 million seed money for the project and Ohio lawmakers did the Haslams a solid favor. They changed the language of the Modell Law. The “Modell Law” or Section 9.67 of the Ohio Revised Code, was a state law designed to prevent professional sports teams in Ohio that utilize taxpayer-funded stadiums from relocating without giving their home city the chance to negotiate or potentially purchase the team. It was passed by Ohio lawmakers after Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell moved his business to Baltimore in 1995. Cleveland lawmakers were planning to use the Modell Law to keep the business in the city.
The Haslams need much more money than the state’s $600 million. The stadium may cost $2.4 billion and another $1 billion to build the village part that will include retail and residential space. The Haslams claim they are willing to pay half the cost of the project. Brook Park has a population of around 18,000 people so there is not the kind of money available from the municipality. Brook Park lawmakers can offer things such as a payment in lieu of taxes or designate the area as an entertainment zone and allow the Haslams to keep all the sales tax collected within the district. Where will the Ohio politicians find the money? Maybe it comes from Ohio sports gambling, or from another pot of money. The Browns stadium saga continues.
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