Alternative Browns playoff game

The Browns real playoff game is months away. That’s when the team has to face off with Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and City Council over the future of the city-owned stadium. 

It’s a good matchup. The city has spent $350 million and counting on the stadium over the past two and a half decades. The current Browns owners, Dee and Jimmy Haslam, have spent $154 million on stadium improvements since taking over the team in 2012.

The team wants a major makeover of the stadium – or a new stadium. The team’s lease with Cleveland runs out in 2028. 

We’ve noted in this column before that warmups have been going on for months in the form of informal meetings between the Haslams, Bibb and other city officials. The sides have been careful not to create a paper trail reflecting early discussions to keep details from public scrutiny. 

The Haslams have publicly signaled they are OK with a major renovation, but privately they have eyed a grander home for the team, possibly a domed facility. Nobody has talked out loud about the possible price for that, which would be well more than $1 billion. Such a project would require substantial investment from the owners, perhaps in exchange for control of development around a new facility. At least, that’s how such deals have worked elsewhere in the country. Nothing has been settled. The city continues to tell Signal Cleveland that it expects to have an agreement in place by the end of the first quarter. 

“The Browns continue to explore all their options, and productive conversations are regular and ongoing,” City Hall told us.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was in town recently, although his exact mission is unknown. He did some handshaking with civic leaders, including County Executive Chris Ronayne, who’s been asked by the mayor to consider playing a role in financing the stadium. 

City Hall told Signal Cleveland that Goodell did not meet with the mayor.

Goodell should know his way around Cleveland City Hall and the Browns. 

As Ken Silliman – once a top aide to former Cleveland Mayor Mike White – recounted in his recent book, Goodell was part of the NFL negotiating team during Cleveland’s 1995 “Save the Browns” campaign.

New MetroHealth Board members incoming

The MetroHealth System is set to get two new board members soon, according to a recent Cuyahoga County Council meeting agenda. One is Sharon Dumas, who was finance director under Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. She has a long record of public finance experience and is a current Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District board member.

J. Stefan Holmes is also on the list. He has 27 years of banking experience in Northeast Ohio. He’s also board chair of the Port of Cleveland. 

Dumas is replacing J.B. Silvers, whose board term expired nearly a year ago. Holmes is filling a spot left vacant by Terry Monnolly, who resigned from the MetroHealth board in 2022.

Cleveland City Council wants more love

In politics, praise is a commodity. And members of Cleveland City Council like to receive a public tip of the hat for their efforts – whether that’s from Motown star Martha Reeves or from Mayor Justin Bibb.  

This week Ward 16 Council Member Brian Kazy took exception to a presentation by the mayor’s office. That presentation listed a citywide broadband contract among Team Bibb’s accomplishments.  As Kazy pointed out, council set aside $20 million for that contract before Bibb was even elected. Kazy, who chairs the utilities committee, said he was involved in “hours and hours and hours” of negotiations hammering out a deal last year with DigitalC, council and the mayor’s office.  

“The mayor is very good at PR. Excellent. Probably one of the better people that I’ve ever seen at that,” Kazy said. “But sometimes it’d be nice to have the mayor give credit where a lot of credit is due.”  

Later in the week, at a press conference announcing $10 million from the state for the broadband deal, Kazy got his wish. At the lectern, Bibb made sure to thank him and Council President Blaine Griffin.  

“We couldn’t do it without you,” the mayor said, “so thank you so much to our friends and partners at City Council.”

Top Case Western message-maker leaving

The behind-the-scenes director of Case Western Reserve University’s public posture is stepping down. Chris Sheridan, the university’s vice president for marketing and communications, will leave at the end of the month. After 16 years, the Cleveland Plain Dealer alum said, she believes the “marketing and communications team and broader university are best served by new leadership.” 

Sheridan arrived at the University Circle institution in 2007 as former President Barbara Snyder’s chief of staff. In a note to the campus community on Friday, Jan. 12, current President Eric Kaler said he is grateful for Sheridan’s work, calling her “unwavering in her commitment to elevate marketing and communications throughout the university.”  

The university plans to launch a nationwide search for Sheridan’s replacement.