Jimmy Haslam and the Cleveland Browns have just faced a million-dollar heartbreak. The Browns spent about $1.1 million on repairs to the lakefront Huntington Bank Field Stadium. However, the Browns won’t receive any money in reimbursement from the Cleveland City.
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Signal Cleveland’s Nick Castele revealed that the city council was obligated to cover the repair work as per its lease with the Browns. However, the council voted 7-6 to reject the legislation that Mayor Justin Bibb supports to reimburse the Browns. The decision came even though the city owns the stadium and should pay the repair bills using its share of the Cuyahoga County tax on alcohol and cigarettes.
When Castele shared the news on X, 92.3 The Fan’s Daryl Ruiter made another unexpected announcement.
“Cleveland will be in breach of the lease with #Browns by doing this,” Ruiter replied to Castele on X. “Guess city council would rather spend another $1.3 mil on lawyers instead. BTW the $70 mil cash portion of settlement for Brook Park move is more than 3x net revenue Cleveland has taken home over last 27 years.”
According to Castele, it’s the first time in recent history that the city council rejected a stadium’s reimbursement request. That’s proof of some discontent with the Browns’ move to Brook Park.
“I think that a lot of people are giving each other high fives right now, but when those bills start rolling in, I want us to also…make sure that we let everybody know why we’re spending all of this money on all of these legal battles as well,” Council President Blaine Griffin said after the vote.
“Sometimes I wish somebody had the cojones to stand up to that sports group and say, ‘Thank you for the work, but we ain’t paying you a dime. See you in court,’” Ward 13 Council Member Brian Kazy said.
Moreover, Bibb administration officials stated that the repairs were actually important to ensure health and safety at Huntington Bank Field. With the onset of winter, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Capital Repairs, James DeRosa, said the pipes could have frozen, and sewage could have backed up had the Browns not made the repairs. And the $1.1 million would have covered fixes for failed sanitary pipes, a broken sewer pump, and a renewal of the concrete.
To make things worse, the stadium would need about $117 million to repair the damages between 2024 and 2034. However, the Browns asked for only the essential repairs to ensure the fans’ safety.
Well, Signal Cleveland also revealed that the city owes about $18.6 million in debt that it incurred back in the 1990s to build the stadium. Over the next few years, the city will pay an additional $4 million for the 2014 upgrades.
What do the new renderings by the Cleveland Browns suggest?
The Huntington Bank Field, as per the new renderings, will have a 500-unit residential area, a 300-room hotel, and 232,000 square feet of retail space. Once the project is completed, the retail space will be around 300,000 square feet, with more than 450 rooms, and 1,500 apartments with 695,000 square feet of office space.
The Browns planned to put a 10,000-space parking lot within a mile of the stadium, with sidewalks connecting the parking lot to the team building. The domed stadium will be able to host about 75,000 fans in the 377,000 square feet area. Furthermore, the Browns planned that the lakefront stadium will have a larger concessions area with expansive video boards. They also planned a reimagined Dawg Pound.
But a reimbursement might be a pretty far-fetched idea for Haslam.
State Representative Munira Abdullahi (Columbus) stated that handing over public funds to “support Haslam family’s sports empire” wasn’t a solution for the city council, especially when the schools remain underfunded and the food bank is struggling. Meanwhile, Representative Juanita O. Brent (Cleveland) suggested that the city council should use that amount to uplift working families and invest in communities.
The Cleveland City Council’s refusal to reimburse the Browns underscores the bitter fallout over the team’s planned move to Brook Park. With the city potentially breaching its lease, Jimmy Haslam’s stadium standoff looks headed straight back to court.