Browns Officially Get Public Money for New Stadium in Ohio Budget

Yahoo

2 days ago

The Browns are one step closer to a new stadium in the Brook Park, Ohio, suburb of Cleveland.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed the state's $60 billion biannual operating budget beginning with the 2025-26 fiscal year on June 30, which includes a $600 million funding pool for a new $2.4 billion domed stadium just 12 miles southeast of downtown Cleveland.
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The $600 million will come from a portion of the $3.7 billion the state has in unclaimed funds, forming the 'Sports and Culture Facilities Fund.' The Browns will repay the state through tax revenue generated in the development over 16 years.
On June 27, the 176-acre site where the team plans to build the stadium was officially purchased by Haslam Sports Group, which owns the Browns, for $76 million, according to the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Office. The deed was originally written in March 2024 but was signed shortly after the state House and Senate approved of the stadium funding.
The new digs will anchor a proposed $3.6 billion mixed-used development that will include retail, hotels, office space and apartment housing. HSG and their development partners stated that they will commit $2 billion in private capital toward the full mixed-used project. Brook Park, a town of just 19,000 people, is also slated to contribute $400 million in public funding for the project.
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Jimmy Haslam, who owns HSG along with his wife Dee, said that he wants to break ground in early 2026.
While the public funding is now available to the team, the shovels won't go into the ground just yet. The road toward a new stadium has been a bumpy one, especially as it relates to a city once burned before by its NFL team. Here's everything you need to know about the Browns' new stadium funding.
When did the Cleveland Browns announce a new stadium?
On April 1, 2024, Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb told local media that he sent a letter to Jimmy and Dee Haslam stating that the city would commit $461 million toward a $1 billion renovation of Huntington Bank Field, but only if the offer was accepted by April 12.
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The Browns said they were weighing a decision between renovating the current building or building a domed stadium. The franchise felt Huntington Bank Field 'requires major infrastructure moves to improve our operational and fan experience challenges.'
In May 2024, the Cleveland City Council approved an ordinance that allowed City Hall to enforce Ohio Revised Code 9.67, colloquially known as the Modell Law in response to Art Modell moving the original Browns to Baltimore in 1995.
What is the Modell Law?
In short, the Modell Law prohibits a pro sports team in Ohio that receives public subsidies from playing its home games anywhere else. A team owner can be exempted from the law by seeking permission from the local government to sell the team with a six-month notice, and giving the city or local businesspeople the right of first refusal to buy the team.
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Last August, the Browns publicly revealed the Brook Park plans, calling it 'a modern, dynamic, world-class venue that would greatly enhance the fan experience and enable the State of Ohio and our region to compete for some of the biggest events in the world 365 days a year.'
Both the team and the city have sued one another over the use of the Modell Law. In their lawsuit, the Browns argue that the law only applies to interstate commerce—moving out of state versus relocating within the county, as the Browns hope to do. The city itself claims that the Browns are in breach of contract—in this case, the lease of the current stadium.
Why did the Browns move away from Cleveland?
The stadium ordeal is rooted in the ugly divorce between the city and the original Browns team. In 1995, Modell publicly pushed for Cuyahoga County to renew a sin tax that would pay for the renovation of Cleveland Municipal Stadium, which he owned and operated. Yet he also had secret negotiations with state legislators in Maryland to build a new stadium for a potential relocation to Baltimore.
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After the now-Cleveland Guardians moved out of Municipal Stadium for their own baseball-specific venue in 1994, Modell claimed that the Browns had lost $21 million in 1994 and '95 and believed that renewing the sin tax would not be enough to keep the Browns in Cleveland. Just days before Cuyahoga County residents were set to vote on the sin tax renewal, Modell agreed to move the Browns to Baltimore before the 1996 NFL season.
The city of Cleveland sued Modell, the Browns, his Stadium Corp. and the Maryland Stadium Authority for breach of contract, believing Browns had broken their Municipal Stadium lease. However, the NFL worked out a settlement with all parties where it deactivated the Browns franchise for three years, leaving its likeness and records in Cleveland for a 1999 'expansion' team. Modell renamed his football organization the Baltimore Ravens.
The NFL also gave the city a loan to be used for the construction of a new stadium: the current Huntington Bank Field, which opened for the 'new' Browns in 1999.
The lease on Huntington Bank, formerly Cleveland Browns Stadium, expires after the 2028 NFL season. The Columbus-based bank will carry the naming rights to the new stadium, which is expected to open in 2029.
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