Bibb: Browns Move to Brook Park Will Economically Harm Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

In an alternately solemn and feisty speech in front of a packed Red Room at City Hall on Thursday, Mayor Justin Bibb announced that Jimmy and Dee Haslam intend to officially move the Cleveland Browns to Brook Park in a new domed stadium.

The decision, apparently conveyed to Bibb in a phone call Wednesday night, put the mayor on the defensive as he outlined a laundry list of moves he and City Hall deployed to convince the Haslams that keeping the team in their namesake city, on a lakefront the owners had implored/demanded the city improve, was the right thing to do. Absconding to Brook Park will create an annual $30 million economic hit to downtown, he reported a recent impact study found, and detract from and compete with public infrastructure that the city and county have already poured hundreds of millions of dollars into.

Noting that Cleveland's offer and attendant lakefront moves -- $461 million in subsidies to the Haslams, state and federal grants collected to convert the Shoreway to a pedestrian-friendly boulevard and build a landbridge connector, the formation of a waterfront development corporation to guide projects -- met all of the Haslams' suggested demands when the two sides first talked after he entered office, Bibb said their desire for a dome came later. This, he said, wasted precious time.

And when it became clear a dome was the only option the Haslams would consider, the city quickly moved to find other options downtown, including the offer of land at Burke. This, he said, simply didn't meet their timeline or financial plans.

“This is a deliberate choice—one driven by a desire to maximize profits rather than positive impact. They had the opportunity to reinvest in Cleveland, transform the current stadium into a world-class facility, enhance the fan experience and remain highly profitable,” Bibb said from the Red Room podium days after Cavs owner Dan Gilbert's company cut the ribbon on a new riverfront development that will include the team's new training facilities.

Both the financial strife and the emotional weight of losing the negotiations brought out a heavy-hearted Bibb on Thursday, who often bit his lip or raised his hands when recalling the city’s two years of work.

From the start, Bibb and the city sought to address the Browns' concerns -- “fan experience,” “traffic” and ensuring Cleveland “would really accelerate lakefront development.”

“Every milestone they’ve asked for, we hit,” Bibb said. “We created a new waterfront development authority. We got state support for the land bridge. We got federal support—with more on the way.”

Compared to the Brook Park plan, “We believe the renovation was a competitive deal,” he said.

Bibb’s sentiment has been mirrored by a swath of public officials, from U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown to County Executive Chris Ronayne, the latter who reiterated succinctly in a press release during Bibb’s speech that, “the Browns stadium should remain downtown.”

In a short statement Thursday afternoon, the Haslams said: “We’ve learned through our exhaustive work that renovating our current stadium will simply not solve many operational issues and would be a short-term approach. With more time to reflect, we have also realized that without a dome, we will not attract the type of large-scale events and year-round activity to justify the magnitude of this public-private partnership. The transformational economic opportunities created by a dome far outweigh what a renovated stadium could produce with around ten events per year.”

The Haslams have previously said they would pay for half of the $2.4 billion dome. Ronayne, again, has said the county is not interested in forking over dough. The sin tax, legally speaking, can only be used to fund the current lakefront stadium. And so far Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has been silent on how much the state could possibly contribute, though the Haslams appear to hope for around $600 million. The team has explored a variety of other novel financing concepts involving that public-private partnership to come up with the rest.

92.3 The Fan reported that Bibb has asked the Haslams for three things given their decision to leave for Brook Park: "The first was that the Browns pay for the demolition of the current stadium, which should cost between $15-25 million. Bibb also sought financial support for small business owners impacted by the team’s departure to Brook Park as well as support from the Haslam Sports Group and Browns for the development of the lakefront."

In closing, Bibb said that if the Brook Park plan turns out not to be viable, he stands willing and with open arms to continue talks about keeping the Browns downtown.

“It’s the wrong time not to choose Cleveland,” he said. “And the wrong time not to choose our lakefront downtown.”
[content-1]
Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed