The City of Cleveland owns the current stadium. So if they decide to tear it down, who will pay the cost?
The Cleveland Browns will open training camp this weekend as they prepare for the upcoming 2025 NFL season.
While the players and coaches stay busy with drills and meetings, ownership will continue its inevitable march toward a domed stadium in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park.
The funding appears to be in place, the appropriate land has been purchased, and before long, shovels, bulldozers, cranes, and workers will fill the site with activity.
Cleveland still has four seasons to go at their current home, Huntington Bank Field on the shores of Lake Erie, as they need to be sure to play out their lease so as not to run afoul of the state’s so-called Modell Law.
But once the final game is played in 2028 and the Browns turn out the lights, the question is, what will become of Huntington Bank Field?
Proponents of the domed stadium plan have touted the overall awesomeness of it, with particular emphasis given to all the great events that the city, well region, will now be able to host. Concerts by Taylor Swift or Beyoncé, monster truck rallies, college basketball tournaments, World Cup football matches, pro ‘rasslin events, the list is endless!
That all does sound exciting, especially since we’ve all been missing out on such things, given that there is apparently not a venue currently available in Cleveland to accommodate the large crowds these events attract.
Which brings us back to Huntington Bank Field.
One of the longstanding arguments about the current home of the Browns is that it is underutilized. Eight regular-season home games and one or two preseason games from the Browns, the occasional concert from Journey or AC/DC, and a U.S. Men’s Soccer Team appearance now and again. Basically, it just sits there taking up space, according to those who have grown tired of the facility.
If that is true, then the City of Cleveland, which owns the stadium, will have to do something once the Browns have loaded up and headed to Brook Park.
Possibly the best plan would be to tear it down and develop the site to allow public access to Lake Erie. Maybe a park, a beach, a boardwalk, something fun and that everyone, young and old, rich or poor, can freely use.
While no mayor wants to be the one who “let the Browns leave Cleveland,” being the mayor who finally develops the lakefront into something positive that everyone can enjoy would look pretty nice on the résumé of Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb. And as luck would have it, earlier today, the city put out a call to developers to start working up some ideas for the site, according to the NEO-Trans blog.
The problem is that the stadium is not going to demolish itself, and tearing it down, cleaning it up, and developing the site is not going to be free.
So, who would pay for all this?
Since the city owns the stadium, it would seem reasonable that it would be their responsibility. But last week, Bibb started the PR push to have the Browns chip in on the cost, according to cleveland.com:
“It is my hope that the Haslams and the Browns will be good corporate citizens and make sure there is a smooth transition for them leaving our city and going to Brook Park. We have spent a half-billion dollars since 1999 to support the Browns and support the Haslam family with that stadium. So, it is my hope that the Haslams and the business community will support this administration and the city to demolish the stadium to ensure we have a transformation of the lakefront.”
For their part, the Browns released a statement today saying that they have offered help not only with tearing down the current stadium, but with any work to develop the lakefront once they are gone, but Bibb has given them the cold shoulder, according to Fox 8 Cleveland:
We have long expressed our support for a reimagined Cleveland lakefront, well before concluding that an enclosed stadium in Brook Park is the best long-term stadium solution for our fans and all of Northeast Ohio. Mayor [Bibb] knows this, as we have had direct discussions with him and his administration on numerous occasions regarding our willingness to assist with the demolition of the current stadium after our lease expires in early 2029. The mayor informed us two months ago that he wanted to wait until after June 30 for the state’s decision on supporting an unprecedented $3 billion economic development project in Brook Park before he further responded to our desire to work together to help transform the lakefront, and we have not heard from him directly since.
We have always been willing to continue to invest in Cleveland and our region, but it requires collaboration from all parties to arrive at the optimal solution. We remain ready to have those conversations with the mayor when he’s willing, and we are hopeful that begins soon.
While pitching in some cash to tear down the place they were renting is probably not something ownership is happy to do, the Browns have to play downtown for four more seasons. And even with the move to Brook Park pretty much inevitable, city officials could make those four years unpleasant, so kicking in some cash to smooth things over is probably in the team’s best interest.
Thankfully, training camp is on the verge of opening, and real football is on the horizon, which will give everyone a break from the ongoing stadium talk.
Since we are on the topic of the stadium, we were to be a recent guest on The Dawgs Podcast to talk about the latest developments, along with some actual football talk.
Give it a listen and leave your thoughts – be nice! – in the comments below.