For the first time, Mayor Justin Bibb shared publicly how much City Hall can muster to keep Cleveland Browns Stadium on the lakefront: $461 million.
City Hall announced its offer unexpectedly by press release Thursday morning, without the fanfare of a news conference about their closed-door negotiations with the team.
Bradford Davy, the mayor’s chief of staff, said the city notified the Browns on Thursday morning that Cleveland would be officially sending the team its proposal. Davy said it was the right time to make the offer.
“It’s the result of 18 months of conversations. We’ve talked about every deal point that exists in that lease,” he told Signal Cleveland. “The only thing left to do is transmit those deal terms in a formal document and that’s what we did.”
Browns executive David Jenkins said in an emailed statement Thursday afternoon that the team “appreciates” the city’s offer and would review it. He said the Browns will work with local and state governments on “a long-term stadium solution that creates a world-class experience for our fans and positively impacts Northeast Ohio.”
The two statements left unanswered whether Cleveland’s offer was enough to keep the Browns from moving to nearby Brook Park, where the team contemplates building a multibillion-dollar complex including a roofed stadium.
Cleveland is offering $367 million to renovate the current lakefront stadium and proposing to set aside another $94 for repairs. The money would come from admission tax proceeds, revenue from the Cuyahoga County sin tax on alcohol and cigarettes, existing reserves and game and event day parking revenue.
That falls short of the Browns’ ask of taxpayers. The NFL franchise told City Council members last year that it was looking for the public to take on $500 million to $600 million of a renovation that could cost $1 billion to $1.2 billion.
In Thursday’s news release, the mayor argued that building a new venue elsewhere would hurt Cleveland’s downtown.
“Losing the Browns would harm Cleveland and all Clevelanders,” Bibb said in the release. “Lower spending downtown would negatively affect tax revenues that provide essential services for a city in need. It would close businesses, cost jobs, empty out storefronts, and make our downtown feel less alive.”
City Hall had previously set an internal deadline for the end of the first quarter of 2024 to come to an agreement in principle with the Browns. Now, in a letter to team owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam, Bibb is asking for a response from the Browns by Aug. 12.
The mayor wrote in the letter that the city’s offer would give the team “a dramatically upgraded facility” that would last “for decades.”
“The City of Cleveland is unequivocally committed to a competitive lease arrangement on the lakefront for the next 30 years—one that is fair to both our residents and the Browns,” Bibb wrote. “Importantly, our package does not tap into the team’s revenue sources while ensuring that the City’s budget is fully protected.”
In his statement, Jenkins said the Browns are working with Cleveland, Brook Park, Cuyahoga County and the state on plans for the team’s future. Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne’s office did not endorse either the city’s pitch or a move to Brook Park in a news release Thursday afternoon.
“We are hopeful that the city of Cleveland and the Browns come to a resolution. We have not been a party to their negotiations,” the county’s statement reads. “Ultimately, the administration believes that all stakeholders need to come together to discuss a long-term vision for not just the Browns but also the Guardians and Cavaliers.”
The backbone of Cleveland’s proposal is a $347 million funding stream made up of admission tax dollars and $4 million annual payments from the county’s sin tax collections. Another $20 million would come from existing reserves for stadium work.
Parking revenue from the Willard Garage and Muni Lot on game and event days would generate an estimated $94 million for capital repairs and improvements.
The city would waive the Browns’ $250,000 annual rent payment, but ask the team to pick up the costs of insurance and property taxes. Those come out to $1.3 million a year, the city said.
By releasing their proposal publicly and giving the Haslams a deadline to respond, Cleveland officials sent a signal that this offer was their last and best one. The city hid one more sign in plain view: on the flagpole atop City Hall, a Cleveland Browns flag flapped in the light August breeze.
