Last week the Cleveland Browns announced publicly that they are putting all efforts into building an indoor football facility in Brookpark Ohio. The new stadium is scheduled to open at the beginning of the 2029 season. The current lease with the city of Cleveland on Huntington Bank Field is due to expire at the end of the 2028 season. Just prior to this announcement last week, Mayor Justin Bibb of Cleveland held a press conference regarding this issue. He did express his disappointment of the Browns leaving downtown Cleveland. There is also misinformation being distributed about the new stadium.

First people are believing that this new stadium will be taxpayer funded. Based on the Browns public statement last August, 2/3 of the funding is the Haslam Sports Group and private investors. The last 3rd will be funded by a usage tax of the facility itself. So that belief as of right now is false, there is no tax referendum on the ballot in November for this stadium either. The construction needs to start next spring. And no specific funding plan has been made public yet. Second opponents of this new stadium make it sound like the team is leaving again like it did in 1995. It is not even close to that. This new stadium will be located 10 miles from downtown Cleveland and directly across the street from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Relocating 10 miles is not moving into another city or state. And that brings up the latest move by the City of Cleveland.

https://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/a-letter-to-cleveland-browns-fans-across-northeast-ohio-and-beyond

On October 22nd ,2024, a local television station reported that the City of Cleveland is suing the Cleveland Browns for leaving downtown Cleveland. They are invoking the Art Modell law. That is an Ohio Law that requires a buyer for local sports teams 6 months before relocating. Everyone understands that this situation is not intention or spirit of the law. The Cleveland Browns will still be the Cleveland Browns in Brookpark Ohio. This will probably be dismissed in court soon. This move by the City of Cleveland is a Hail Mary to try to keep the Browns downtown. The sad part is that Cleveland City Officials had decades to do something about this and they didn’t. Which is why all they can do is pull stunts and pray.