Since last February, rumors of a new football stadium being built in the suburbs of Cleveland Ohio have been running rampant. Renderings of the new stadium were leaked online recently. Many fans have shown support for a new stadium. Other fans have disagreed with the move by the Cleveland Browns. Recently a local politician took the opportunity to grandstand on the issue. The new stadium and the move make sense for everyone involved and here is why.

Brook Park stadium rendering confirmed real
Rendering shows stadium-area developmenthttps://t.co/P780XqRl6L@Browns @brookparkoh @CityofCleveland @CuyahogaCounty @goingplacesCLE @NOhioNAIOP @ClevelandULI

— NEOtrans-blog (@NeotransB) May 1, 2024

Let’s start by where the City of Cleveland and the Cleveland Browns are at right now. They have an outdoor football only stadium located in downtown Cleveland. The stadium sits empty 350 days out of the year. It takes up prime real estate space on the shore of Lake Erie. When the stadium was built in the 1990’s, it was a rushed project and built poorly. It doesn’t make sense to keep things the way they are.

A new dome stadium can bring more revenue and events to Cleveland. The Airport is a part of the city of Cleveland Ohio. The plot of land that is being considered for the new stadium can be rezoned to be a part of the city of Cleveland. That would be the work around of the state Art Modell law. The other rumor is the cost and funding of this new stadium.

The estimated cost of this new stadium would $2.4 billion dollars. The Browns ownership is asking for half to be public funds. They made their presentation and sales pitch to Ohio Lawmakers in Columbus last week. Some residents immediately take issue with public funds `being used to build a new stadium. Keep in mind that nothing has been officially announced yet. But I would guess a compromise will be made.

I can see the new stadium being built with partial public funding near the airport. And I can see the Haslam Ownership Group working with the City of Cleveland to better repurpose the lake front economically for the future. It can be a winning situation for everyone involved. The only question is whether everyone involved is wise enough to get it done.