The Cleveland Browns owners’ campaign for a new stadium in Brook Park has been a weird one, and not just because of the ever-changing funding scheme that ended up with the state raiding a pool of unclaimed private money it’s been holding. The order of operations has also been weird: First team owner Jimmy Haslam said that if he didn’t get state approval for $600 million in public money for a Brook Park stadium, he would just keep the team in Cleveland; then after getting the state money, he moved ahead with the Brook Park plans while still waiting to see if he could get another $600 million from the city and county.
And now, defying all the conventional wisdom about how savvy negotiators operate, he’s asking the state for $70.3 million for a pile of transit improvements for the Brook Park site, on top of the money he’s already received:
- I-71 Northbound (NB) Exit Ramp Improvements
- I-71 Southbound (SB) Exit Ramp Improvements
- Snow Road/Ring Road Connector
- SR-291 (Engle Road)
- Ring Road Improvements
- Pedestrian Bridge
- GCRTA Transit Station
All of this is pretty standard operating procedure for stadium asks, but it does raise the question: Why should the state of Ohio pay for any of this if the Haslams say they’re building the stadium regardless? Sure, it will make it easier for fans to get to Browns games, but that’s really a Browns problem — if the Haslams want to build a stadium in a site without sufficient traffic and transit access, they can pay to improve it, Ohio has other budget matters to worry about.
The Ohio Department of Transportation is expected to decide by the end of the year whether to approve the $70.3 million expense, which would come out of $150 million that the agency has budgeted for construction projects next spring. (Other projects competing for the same money include one for rebuilding light-rail tracks between Downtown Cleveland and the eastern suburbs.) Browns officials and Brook Park Mayor Edward Orcutt said that because the stadium site was formerly an auto plant that employed 16,000 workers, the needed upgrades are “relatively modest”; nice attempt at anchoring there, need to remember to use that myself next time I’m asking for $70 million.
I give the Browns credit for using the Foot In The Door technique. The Door In The Face technique is getting boring.
Wonder if Ohio could make the I-71 ramps toll roads. They already use the EZ Pass system in Cleveland. Not sure what the ROI is on toll roads but it would be funny. OK, Browns, here’s your new ramp, but your fans will pay $5 each way to use it.
Haslam has additional issue to resolve (in financial priority):
1. $300 million from the suburb of Brook Park. They’ll have to use their own credit rating because the county will not back them.
2. $300 million from unidentified “private” sources instead of Cuyahoga County.
3. The lawsuit against Ohio giving $600 million from the state’s seizing unclaimed funds pool, which is now in federal court.
4. Tripling the county sin tax which currently underfunds maintenance on the 3 existing sports facilities.
4. Resolving Cleveland’s lawsuit for violating the stadium lease, which the city could use to get funding from Haslam for demolition of the lakefront stadium. How much does demolition of a large municipal football stadium run? Will we get a chance to grab a seat or a urinal as a souvenir like we did the last time?
Having lived 15 minutes from the site I can say other than the pedestrian bridge and RTA station all of those things would be needed anyway.
How can you compare the value of educating a bunch of public school kids with the tremendous benefits of an NFL stadium (or a second NFL stadium, in this case)?
It is irresponsible to even try. Those kids will only be in the workforce (mostly earning minimum wage, if there still is one) for 40-60 years, while the stadium will be good for at least 30 or 35 years. Not like the last one. Or the Georgia Dome. Or the Oakland coliseum modifications, which were so terrible we didn’t even use them.
Whaddowecare? We didn’t pay for them.
Ask not what you can do for your poor school kids.
Ask what you can do for your local NFL team.
Seems to me like the Haslams are following a tried and true plan for business success.
This one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZkWL-XvO0U