For years, Cleveland City Council has signed off on taxpayer dollars for stadium project after stadium project.
But on Monday, several members swayed Council President Blaine Griffin to hold off – at least temporarily – on a proposal to spend $20 million on repairs at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and Progressive Field. Griffin said he would bring the measure back for a vote next week, after the Thanksgiving holiday.
That bill landed at City Hall because repair costs at the homes of the Cavaliers and Guardians are outpacing what is coming in from Cuyahoga County’s sin tax on alcohol and cigarettes. Gateway Economic Development Corp. – the nonprofit that owns and approves repairs at the ballpark and arena – is asking the city and county to split $40 million that the sin tax can’t cover.
Several council members bemoaned the fact that the sin tax’s shortcomings might deal a hit to Cleveland’s general fund, which covers city operations. Members chastised Gateway for not bringing the shortfall to council’s attention sooner and not pushing back harder on repair requests from the teams.
Ward 15’s Jenny Spencer criticized the idea, proposed by Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration, of using $20 million in surplus general fund money to close the gap.
“From residents’ perspective, it always seems that when it comes to stadium funding, money just comes like a magic rabbit out of a hat. It just appears magically. Magically, we have $20 million in general fund available,” Spencer said. “But when it comes to other things that residents need, we don’t have the money.”
Gateway has already approved the repairs in question, which include upgrading 30-year-old elevators and outdated broadcast equipment at the basketball arena. On the ballpark side of the equation, Gateway last year approved replacements of seats and repairs to the stadium’s air handling and video systems.
Griffin said that he understood council members’ frustration but that they were bound by agreements the city has made in the past.
He and Gateway representatives laid out the case that paying for repairs is Gateway’s legal obligation under the leases with the teams. They said that if the city and county cut Gateway off, the teams could withhold rent payments to Gateway – leading to even more unfunded obligations that could land at the city and county doorsteps.
“Somehow, several years ago, this city made a commitment that they wanted teams as part of their economic engine in the central business district,” Griffin said, referencing the creation of Gateway in the 1990s. “There are some legal obligations that this city has with this lease.”
The longer-term problem is that sin tax collections – which bring in roughly $14 million a year for repairs at the ballpark, arena and Cleveland Browns stadium – just aren’t keeping up with costs.
Griffin and a representative from the Bibb administration said a longer-term fix for Gateway’s problems is in the works. That could include extending the sin tax, which expires in 2034, or creating a new community authority – a legal entity that could raise money for the stadiums, they said.
Council long an ally of stadium projects
In the past, City Council has come through with public financing for stadium work, though usually with some dissent. In 2017, council approved the extension of the city’s admission tax to support when ended up being a $180 million redesign of the Cavaliers’ arena – funded by the teams, the city and the county. Council again backed the renewal of the Guardians’ lease in 2022, which included more than $202 million in ballpark improvements split between the public and the team.
Ward 8 Council Member Michael Polensek complained that while the teams and the public poured money into highly visible stadium overhauls in recent years, other repairs were left for the taxpayers to handle.
“You had money to do the glitz and glamor, but you didn’t have money to fix your fricking elevator,” he said.
He added, “That ain’t cutting it. You guys got to come up with a better game plan, and Gateway better get with it.”
At one point, Polensek wagged his finger at Cleveland Chief Operating Officer Bonnie Teeuwen, who serves on the Gateway board. He said that Bibb should lead the way in pushing the teams to be better partners with the city.
Ward 16’s Brian Kazy said Cleveland is too poor a city and neighborhood needs are too great to justify spending money on the stadiums. He went so far as to say the public should get out of the stadium business.
“The City of Cleveland needs to get out of being landlords,” he said. “If the Guardians want to stay … buy the stadium. Same with the Cavaliers. Buy the arena.”
