by Jon Styf
The Cleveland Browns want a new $2.4 billion domed stadium using $1.2 billion in public funds in Brook Park.
But Cuyahoga County leaders made it clear in a letter to Browns ownership and at a press conference that it wants a stadium renovation downtown instead.
“We believe, after analysis of the Cleveland Browns proposal for Brook Park, that this dog doesn’t hunt,” said Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne said.
The Haslam Sports Group is looking at a tax capture near a new stadium to pay off the public funds used for the stadium.
“We believe, after seeing their numbers and their projections, we do not believe that the financial modeling that’s been presented to us works for our citizens and taxpayers,” Ronayne said. “There’s too much exposure on a $1.2 billion public expectation that’s double from the expectation on a renovation for downtown.”
A potential $1.2 billion renovation of the Browns’ downtown stadium with $600 million in public funding has also been proposed.
Ronayne said that $600 million of the $1.2 billion in public funds for a new Brook Park was proposed to come from the county.
“This isn’t about Cleveland vs. Brook Park,” Ronayne said. “This is about downtown, This is about everybody’s downtown.”
Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam said they received the county leader’s response and the team is looking at both a new stadium and renovation still.
“We look forward to the city of Cleveland’s responses to our detailed questions regarding their proposal from last week and we remain committed to collaborating and communicating with all parties involved,” the Haslams said.
Economists who have studied publicly funded stadium deals have repeatedly shown the deals do not bring the promised returns and do not spur other economic activity in a community.
They have shown that stadiums do not pay for themselves through tax captures.
“There is no legitimate policy justification for devoting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to upgrade an NFL football stadium,” economist J.C. Bradbury of Georgia’s Kennesaw State University previously told The Center Square. “The research on this is clear and unambiguous: sports stadiums are not salutary public investments.”
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter at The Center Square, who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
Photo “First Energy Stadium” by JonRidinger. CC BY-SA 4.0.
