State officials are still haggling over where the $600M in state funding will come from.
The Cleveland Browns have a dream that is Brook Park.
The dream includes a domed stadium and a surrounding entertainment district that, in addition to NFL games, would host a variety of other major events, from concerts to tournament games in college basketball and football, pro wrasslin’, and perhaps even a Super Bowl.
All that is needed to make the dream a reality is $1.2 billion in public money, with $600 million of that amount coming from the State of Ohio.
But that state money is turning out to be harder to access than perhaps anyone originally thought.
While everyone at the state level seems properly motivated to provide the requested funding, there are three different ideas of where that $600 million will come from:
- Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine wants to double the state’s tax on the sports-betting companies that operate in Ohio, which is actually a pretty reasonable idea. Those companies take in money from Ohio residents but don’t employ anyone in the state, which means they don’t contribute to the state economy, according to DeWine. Increasing the tax rate would create a permanent funding source for when Ohio’s sports teams come calling for money.
- That did not go over well with Ohio House Republicans, however, who want to use the old-school method of issuing bonds to cover the $600 million. Showing they want to be good fiscal agents of public money, the plan would require team owners to put $50 million into escrow just in case the tax revenue generated by the stadium does not cover the bond payments.
- Not wanting to sit idly by, the Ohio House Senate jumped into the discussion on Tuesday with their own plan. According to cleveland.com, the new plan would draw $1.7 billion from the state’s Unclaimed Property Fund, with $600 million going to the Browns and the rest being held for when the state’s other teams need stadium funding. In addition, the plan would require team owners to have another $50 million on hand in case the initial $50 million is used up in cost overruns.
In case you are not familiar with the Unclaimed Property Fund, it is made up of money sent to the state by banks, insurance companies, and other businesses after no one has claimed the money for three to five years. Want to see if you have any unclaimed funds? Just visit unclaimedfund.ohio.gov to find out!
So what does this all mean for the Browns? Probably very little, at least for now. The people in control of the state money all seem to be on board with the $600 million figure for the project, they are now down to figuring out which plan will actually be the one in the final budget sent to DeWine.
The governor can always veto any part of the budget he is not fond of, but the House and Senate can override any veto with a 60 percent vote in each chamber. Seeing as how representatives from both the House and the Senate will get together to work on the final budget that will be sent to DeWine, it is not unreasonable to expect that they will have the votes in their pockets to override a veto from the governor.
Everything has to be buttoned up by June 30, so the good news is we are only a few weeks away from finally having the answer to how the state will fund its portion of the domed stadium project in Brook Park.