Cleveland’s $100 million deal with the Browns hasn’t yet been set in ink, but the debate is already raging over whether it’s good for the city’s taxpayers.
Mayor Justin Bibb described the settlement — in which the team will pay the city, demolish the stadium and move to Brook Park — as a mutual victory. Other public officials in Cleveland aren’t yet sold. City Council members have questions.
One question received an early answer: Will the Browns pay for the full demolition, even if the costs go higher than the estimated $30 million price tag?
The answer is yes, according to Sarah Johnson, a spokesperson for Bibb’s office. Peter John-Baptiste, who speaks for the Browns, said the team had agreed to a “full demo at our expense,” noting that $30 million is the current estimate.
John-Baptiste wrote in an email to Signal Cleveland that the team would “make the site ‘pad ready’” — a term referring to construction sites that are prepared for new development.
Council members will have to wait to see the rest of the deal’s fine print, however. That’s because the print hasn’t been written yet.
“The final details of the deal will be expressed in a settlement agreement which we are working on with our partners at [the Haslam Sports Group],” Johnson wrote in an email. “We will share more details soon on how this historic investment will accelerate lakefront development and enhance the experience for our residents.”
The deal basics (according to City Hall)
- The Browns will pay the city $25 million by December this year.
- The team will pay the city $5 million a year over the five years between 2029 and 2033.
- The team will spend $2 million a year over 10 years on “mutually agreed Community Benefit Projects.” That spending will start at the termination of the Browns’ lease, which ends in 2029.
- Cleveland City Hall and the Browns will support one another’s infrastructure work on the Brook Park stadium, the overhaul of nearby Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport, the lakefront development and the redevelopment of Burke Lakefront Airport.
Skepticism from City Council
Council President Blaine Griffin said he spent Tuesday fielding calls from colleagues who weren’t happy about the deal. Council members wanted more input and felt that $100 million wasn’t enough, he said.
The council president said he hoped to hold a briefing with the city law director and the negotiating team about the deal. He expects the deal to come before council in November.
“I think everybody believes that the number is too low and that the city could have gotten more,” he said. “But once again, I want to operate from a standpoint of having facts, not from a standpoint of just guessing.”
Kris Harsh, the council member who asked about demolition overruns Monday night, said he wanted to see the Browns’ commitment to raze the stadium in writing. He has heard demolition estimates as high as $50 million, he said.
The Old Brooklyn council member said he didn’t know yet how the Bibb administration plans to spend the cash portion of the settlement. But he doesn’t expect the first installment of money to last very long.
“The $25 million up front will be gone in no time,” he said. “I’m not sure how that money will be allocated, but it certainly won’t be here in 2029 when the demolition has to begin.”
That said, Harsh did understand one argument in favor of the deal: It gets stadium expenses off of Cleveland’s balance sheet. The Brook Park stadium financing plans don’t include money from Cleveland.
Cleveland has spent hundreds of millions of dollars since the late 1990s to build and maintain the city-owned stadium. The city is scheduled to finish paying construction debt in 2028, just before the lease with the Browns ends.
Harsh compared the situation to paying off a car loan. Once you own the car free and clear, you try to drive it as long as it will last, he said.
“It seems like we’re just wasting the lifespan of the stadium by just tearing it down the day after we pay it off,” he said.
If the Browns had decided to stay on the lake, the Bibb administration was willing to spend $461 million on renovations — leaving the city with new bond debt to pay off over time.
The view from Cuyahoga County
Harsh questioned why the city would throw its support behind a plan that would move fan spending from downtown to Brook Park. That put him in the same company as Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne, who opposes the move out of downtown.
Ronayne hasn’t endorsed the city’s $100 million settlement with the team. In a statement after the deal was announced, he reiterated his opposition to spending county money on the Brook Park stadium.
“From the beginning, I have said a stadium relocation is bad economic policy that will have negative impacts on our region,” Ronayne said. “We are now focused on mitigating negative impacts the stadium project will have on our suburban communities and Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story said the stadium debt will be paid off in 2029. It will be paid off in 2028.