Browns plan to leave Cleveland, build domed stadium in suburbs

The Cleveland Browns plan to leave their lakefront stadium in the city for a domed field in suburban Brook Park, Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb said Thursday.

Bibb called a news conference to announce that Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam informed him Wednesday night of their intention to locate the franchise elsewhere. The two sides had been working toward drafting an agreement to renovate Huntington Bank Stadium, which opened in 1999 on the shores of Lake Erie in the city's downtown.

"The Haslams' choice to move the team away from the city is frustrating and profoundly disheartening," Bibb said. "Over the past three years this administration made relentless efforts to craft solutions that advance HSG's (Haslam Sports Group) objectives and long-term interest of our residents and the broader community."

The Browns proposed a public-private partnership to pay for $1 billion in renovations to the current stadium, with each side paying half. Cleveland.com reported Bibb offered $367 million plus funding for future maintenance, but the Haslams chose Brook Park instead.

Bibb apparently wasn't going to budge if a proposal wasn't in the best interests of the people of Cleveland.

"Haslam Sports Group may want a roof over their heads, but it is my responsibility as mayor of great city to ensure Cleveland residents have a roof over theirs," Bibb said.

A statement issued Thursday afternoon by the Haslams said Brook Park offers the Browns -- and the region -- the best option.

"We have had positive, productive, and collaborative dialogue with the Mayor and his staff, working together to find the optimal long-term solution for our stadium," the Haslams said.

"We pursued many possibilities, with our initial focus on renovating the current stadium and engaged design, construction and engineering experts to develop a plan to do so. We also explored building a new stadium on multiple sites, both within and outside of Cleveland. 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 Browns are proposing to build a domed complex in Brook Park, a suburb about 15 miles southwest of Cleveland and near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The estimated cost is $2.4 billion, and the Haslams said they favor to split the cost with the public through the sale of bonds.

"With the funding mechanisms we continue to work on, this stadium will not use existing taxpayer-funded streams that would divert resources from other more pressing needs," they said. "Instead, the over $2 billion private investment, together with the public investment, will create a major economic development project that will drive the activity necessary to pay the public bond debt service through future project-generated and Browns-generated revenue."

The office of Cuyahoga County executive Chris Ronayne -- the county includes both Brook Park and Cleveland -- issued a brief statement on his behalf Thursday, saying Ronayne "has made his position clear: the Browns stadium should remain Downtown. Today he is focused on the business of Cuyahoga County and cheering for a Guardians win tonight (over the New York Yankees)."

Bibb said Cleveland will listen if the Brook Park site falls through.

"My team and I stand ready to re-engage with the Haslams if the Brook Park option does not prove viable," he said.

"And should the Haslams reconsider, we are ready to return to the table and continue working towards a solution that keeps the Browns in the city that has stood by them for decades, and decades, and decades -- Cleveland, Ohio."

Under former owner Art Modell, the Browns left Cleveland before the 1996 season and relocated to Baltimore, with Modell dissatisfied with the conditions at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Under an agreement with the NFL, Modell was granted a new franchise, which became the Ravens, with the Browns name and franchise history remaining in Cleveland.

What now is known as Huntington Bank Field was built by the city and opened in 1999, the year the Browns returned to the NFL.