Ohio Gov. DeWine wants to create a $2B+ stadium slush fund for Browns, Bengals

Ever since the Cleveland Browns owners let slip that they were looking for $1.2 billion in public money to help pay for a $2.4 billion domed stadium in suburban Brook Park, there’s been speculation about whether and how Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine would propose to come up with a pile of state cash. Yesterday, DeWine dropped one hell of an other shoe, proposing a new Sports Facilities Construction and Sports Education Fund that would collect between $130 million and $180 million per year to be used for stadium construction, specifically naming the Browns and Cincinnati Bengals owners as beneficiaries:

DeWine on Monday proposed creating a new stadium and youth sports education fund with money generated by doubling the state’s tax on sports gambling from 20% to 40%…

DeWine said the gambling revenues would be controlled by a newly created Sports Facilities Construction and Sports Education Fund, whose members would be appointed by the governor’s office and the legislature. He said fund proceeds could be used either on stadiums used by major or minor-league professional sports teams, or sports education. To illustrate what he meant by youth sports education, DeWine offered the example of helping needy families afford sports-related expenses that might otherwise prevent them from participating.

Oh, isn’t that nice, needy families, I’m glad they’re getting something ’cause they have a hell of a time! DeWine did not specify how the fund’s DeWine-appointed managers would determine how much to spend on each of its two disparate missions, though it’s hard to see the state of Ohio finding $180 million a year worth of family sports-related expenses to cover.

It’s still a bit uncertain how much money could be raised by doubling the state’s sports gambling tax, since no one knows how much sports gambling will take place in the future, especially once it’s saddled with a 40% tax. But if DeWine’s estimate of $130-180 million a year in tax revenues is correct, that would be enough to cover debt service on between $2 billion and $2.8 billion of stadium expenses — and potentially more than that if tax revenues rise over time. That would be enough to cover the public funding asks of both the Browns and Bengals owners, and likely leave room for more largesse in the future to other Ohio sports teams, who you know would be lining up once they heard about the DeWine handouts. [UPDATE ALREADY: The Columbus Blue Jackets have entered the chat.]

The governor focused his announcement on all the reasons why hiking the sports gambling tax is a good idea — “These sports gaming companies … they’re getting Ohioans to lose massive amounts of money every year” — while skipping past the bit about who he’s hoping to give the proceeds to. In fact, DeWine portrayed a proposal to dedicate more than $2 billion in tax money to pro sports team owners as a way to save taxpayers money:

“This proposal that I have outlined has the added benefit of no longer will we have to, at any time in the future, go to the people of the state of Ohio and say, your tax dollars will go for this stadium or that stadium,” DeWine said.

I’m sorry, that is incorrect, but we have some lovely parting gifts. Or rather, DeWine is part right: He would no longer have to go to the people of Ohio to say “we want your tax dollars to go for this or that stadium,” but only because he would have created his own slush fund so he would no longer have to ask.

In any dedicated tax funding scheme like this one, it’s important to remember that there are actually two decisions at work: One on which taxes to tap for the money, and the other on where to spend the proceeds. There’s nothing stopping the Ohio legislature right now from doubling the sports gambling tax and spending it on education, or spending it on roads, or just putting it in the general fund and letting future legislators decide what the state most needs at the time. Once the 20% gambling tax hike is dedicated to stadiums, though, that money is gone and can’t be tapped for any other public needs. And that’s assuming the gambling tax revenue even comes in at the rate you hope for: As Minnesota found out to its chagrin with its Vikings stadium funding deal, sometimes the gamblers don’t show up right away, and you have to tap other state funds to cover your budget hole.

All this is merely a proposal at this point, and has to be approved by the Ohio state legislature, some of whose members represent Cleveland and will be none too pleased to hear about the governor hoping to use state tax money to help Jimmy and Dee Haslam move the Browns outside city limits. (Though they’re Democrats and the state legislature is Republican-controlled, so that may not matter so much.) While we wait on word of state legislators’ response, we do have a reply from Browns COO Dave Jenkins, which comes down to thanks, but we like our tax kickback scheme better:

“We appreciate Governor DeWine’s commitment to looking at creative ways to solve sports facilities development while positively impacting youth sports throughout Ohio. … At the same time, we continue to work with the appropriate stakeholders and other experienced experts to develop alternative funding mechanisms for an enclosed Huntington Bank Field in Brook Park, knowing the importance of not tapping into existing taxpayer funds that go to other pressing community needs. The model we’ve proposed on the state level would leverage only the incremental tax revenues from within the development itself to enable the project.”

Everybody’s tax kickback scheme is really a way to save taxpayers money, apparently! Funny how that happens.

Other Recent Posts:

Share this post:

14 comments on “Ohio Gov. DeWine wants to create a $2B+ stadium slush fund for Browns, Bengals

  1. Sports gambling has “Ohioans [losing] massive amounts of money every year,” so the state’s solution is to essentially try and double down on the tax earnings derived from the avalanche of losing parlays and other wagers? That feels entirely too cynical, if not outright dystopian.

    At a certain point in the future, all these leagues, media entities and governments are gonna realize that whatever financial benefits and rewards they get from their dalliances with sports betting won’t be worth all the societal problems that will arise from it. This isn’t people dropping a few dollars on the Powerball or those scratch-off cards every week, or stopping at a dispensary every now and then to buy a strain or two. Even the sportsbooks themselves are running ads (at least locally) on the premise of, “You might lose a hundo here and there, but at least you’ll have fun doing it.” There are other habits, vices and pastimes that run on the same logic, and not all of them are legal (or just healthy).

    1. I think the smart kids call it “limbic capitalism.” While I appreciate the optimism of “at a certain point in the future they’re gonna realize,” I’ll believe when I see it.

    2. My local radio just cited an article that I can’t recall or have time to look up that all these gambling apps are designed to NOT ALLOW people who are good at gambling to make bets or to limit their wages to such low numbers that it’s not worth the thrill of entertainment they claim to be. So, what happens if everyone in Cleveland suddenly becomes really good at making picks and the apps shut them all down and NO money comes in???

    3. Sports owners have been slowly strangling the golden goose. They build smaller and more expensive stadiums. The Bills new stadium will have fewer seats than they have current season ticket holders. They move playoff games to streaming apps. Team gear is so much more expensive than before. Heck a few years ago the Browns started having the best sections of training camp for corporate sponsors. So they had to squeeze dollars out of the one free thing they had. Now for adult fans they can get away with it. Kids aren’t going to become fans if they never get to see sports live.

        1. Grown ups will watch because we’re already in and its part of our life. Younger kids won’t because they haven’t established the ties.

    4. They do have a solution for that!

      Need help for Problem Gambling?

      Call the Ohio Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-589-9966

  2. Back when Hamilton County first proposed a $1 billion+ renovation to the stadium I predicted this is how it was going to go. HT to me!

    https://www.fieldofschemes.com/2024/09/18/21874/hamilton-county-proposes-1-2b-bengals-stadium-renovation-with-no-clue-wholl-pay-for-it/#comments

  3. If I were the Browns and Bengals I’d line up the replacement stadiums for the ones that haven’t been built yet. You don’t want those pesky indoor sports or baseball muscling in on your turf.

  4. I’m going to laugh if Ohio State tries to get in on this stadium slush fund. “Hey we got a 100 year old stadium, do you think we could get some scratch thrown our way?”

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Personal attacks on other commenters are not allowed and will be removed.