The owners of the Cleveland Browns will invest $100 million in a project to redevelop the site of its current stadium following the professional football team’s planned move to a new stadium in a nearby suburb.
Last year, the Haslam Sports Group (HSG) announced their intent to move the Browns to Brook Park, Ohio, with plans to build a $2.4 billion domed stadium and a $1 billion surrounding entertainment complex.
HSG’s commitment is expected to accelerate the lakefront redevelopment project for the city, which will drop all pending lawsuits against the team.
Construction on the new stadium in Brook Park is expected to begin next year, with games being played in the domed facility by 2028.
Highlights of the public-private partnership include:
- HSG will pay Cleveland the sum of $25 million by Dec. 1.
- HSG will raze the current Huntington Bank Field in downtown Cleveland to a pad ready state at the Browns’ expense. The cost is estimated at $30 million.
- Beginning on Jan. 1, 2029, HSG will pay the City of Cleveland $5 million on or before Jan. 1 of each calendar year until Jan. 1, 2033, totaling $25 million over five years.
- Upon termination of the lease, HSG will invest no less than $2 million per year over the next 10 years on a mutually agreed Community Benefit Projects totaling no less than $20 million.
- Both parties will mutually support infrastructure plans related to road and air travel with respect to both the Brook Park stadium mixed-use project, the modernization of Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport, the development of the Cleveland lakefront, including the redevelopment of the Burke Lakefront Airport property.
- The city will support the continuing progress and timely completion of transformational Brook Park stadium and mixed-use development.
- Both parties will voluntarily dismiss all lawsuits with prejudice related to Browns Huntington Bank Field move to Brook Park.
Photo by Erik Drost, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
