Cleveland will pay the Browns $2.6 million for repairs to Huntington Bank Field. Legislation to pay the bill has been floating around since June, but it didn’t come up for a vote by Cleveland City Council until last week.
The Browns have already made some of the fixes on the list, and others are in progress. The work includes repairs to concrete and joints, pipe insulation, sewer pumps and replacing a hot water heater, for example.
A routine audit of the stadium’s needs completed in early 2024 identified $10.4 million in emergency repairs. After that, another $106.3 million in repairs would come due in the next decade. But the team isn’t asking for all that work right now as it seeks to build a new $2.4 billion stadium in Brook Park.
“We’ve worked collaboratively with the city to ensure that the repairs that are being completed are emergency repairs and are needed,” Browns Senior Vice President Phil Dangerfield told City Council members, “and are deferring as much work as possible.”
The city owns the stadium and is required to pay for repairs under the lease with the team. Failing to do so could hurt Cleveland’s position in its lawsuits with the Browns over the team’s move to Brook Park, Law Director Mark Griffin said.
As the landlord, City Hall is still on the hook for maintaining the stadium, even if its NFL team tenant is eyeing nicer digs.
