PALM BEACH, Fla. — The discourse around the Browns’ plan to build a new domed stadium in Brook Park has been heated. That’s just among some of the principal parties involved in the process.
However, Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam expressed confidence that the $2.4 billion centerpiece to a development project across state route 237 from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport will come to fruition in time for the 2029 season. That’s assuming $600 million in state funds come through by the end of June.
If that’s not the case, then the Haslams acknowledge a pivot back to a renovation of the current lakefront stadium could be in the cards.
“I mean here’s the positive is we will know on the state funding by June 30,” Jimmy Haslam told a small group of Browns beat writers at the NFL owners meetings Monday. “And so assuming that goes well, then we can then move quickly to try to start sometime in the first quarter of (2026). So this is not going to be a drawn out two or four year deal. It’s either going to happen and happen quickly or we’ll go to plan B.”
Dee Haslam added, “The renovation doesn’t really solve a long-term solution for anyone. The dome is a long, long-term solution.”
The shovel in the ground by then hinges on the state legislature passing a state budget by that June date that includes $600 million in borrowing for the stadium project. That would be with or without Cuyahoga County issuing a $600 million loan to be repaid largely by city admissions and parking taxes, although Haslam said “there’s way for us to do it without county support. I will tell you this, it’s much better for not just the Cleveland Browns and Haslam Sports, but for the community if the county will support us.”
The Browns have stated an intention of fulfilling their lease with the city of Cleveland for the current lakefront stadium, which expires at the end of the 2028 season. The stadium was constructed for the 1999 season, when the current expansion franchise began play, although it underwent renovations after the Haslams purchased the team in 2012.
“Assume we can get the correct funding,” Jimmy Haslam said. “I mean I think anybody pragmatic would’ve a plan A and a plan B and plan A is Brook Park and plan B is renovation. And the mayor and the county mayor are both aware of that. We have very open conversations.”
Much of the public-facing conversations have been vitriolic in nature, with both sides currently involved in some form of litigation against the other. The Browns have filed a lawsuit seeking to ruling on the constitutionality of Ohio’s Art Modell Law, which was created in 1996 which set strict guidelines for owners trying to move professional sports teams.
Ohio Attorney General David Yost filed a motion against the Browns, citing the same law as a reason to block the move to Brook Park. That’s coincided with the city of Cleveland also invoking the law to try and keep the team downtown.
“I would say this in all seriousness,” Jimmy Haslam said, “I don’t believe the intent of the Modell Law was to keep you from moving 12 miles down the road and to invest 1.2 billion in the community. I don’t think that was the intent of the law and I’ll leave it at that.”
The move to Brook Park has been public for more than a year. It was at the owners’ meetings last year in Orlando that the Haslams first mentioned their desire to explore two options: The new stadium on a 176-acre plot of land in Brook Park or a renovation of the current stadium.
The Browns released renderings of what the new domed stadium would look like in August. They finally acknowledged publicly in October that they were pursuing the new stadium as part of a larger mixed-used development that’s bordered by Snow Road to the south, Engle Road to the east and state route 237 to the west, and sits across the street from the airport, which is inside Cleveland city limits.
“I mean I think on the stadium project it’s a process and like Jimmy said earlier, you go two steps forward, one step back and it’s definitely a process,” Dee Haslam said. “So it would be nice if it was easy, but I don’t think any stadium that’s been built in the country has been a straight process. They’ve all been somewhat like this. So we just keep plugging away and we’re excited about the prospect.”
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
