Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne confirmed Wednesday he's had "casual exchanges" with Browns leadership in recent weeks, though he was tight-lipped what that could mean for the future of the Brown's Stadium.
Despite meeting several weeks ago, the Browns have not yet asked for "any kind of a partnership" with the county, Ronayne said Wednesday on the "Sound of Ideas," Ideastream Public Media's weekday morning news and information program.
"It is good to stay in front of them because I think for us, you know, team to team, staff to staff, just being in front of the leadership team there lets us at least kind of explore what they're thinking," Ronayne said.
Ronayne also had a "meet and greet" with Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the National Football League, in December, a county spokesperson confirmed.
The Browns have previously discussed remodeling the stadium, and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb has laid out plans for a sweeping lakefront plan that would develop the area around it.
The City of Cleveland is the landlord of the stadium and pours roughly $14 million generated by the "sin tax" on alcohol and tobacco annually into the stadiums for the three professional sports teams in the city.
Mayor Bibb previously stated he will no longer use Cleveland's general revenue fund dollars to maintain the stadium for the privately-owned team, so it remains unclear how major stadium renovations would be funded.
At the moment, Ronayne said he thinks Brown's leadership is focused on the post-season after the team clinched a spot in the playoffs.
"They're in the middle of a hot season now... I think their focus is on the field right now," Ronayne said. "So the front office is probably appropriately looking at what they got to do on the field to get us as far as we can get."
The county has not received any specific proposals or requests regarding a stadium renovation or relations, Ronayne said, "but we do just continue to stay in front of them as we do."
