The owners of the Cleveland Browns football team released a plan to pay for a new $2.4 billion domed stadium in Brook Park.
The plan includes a $1.2 billion contribution from the public, which private funders would match, according to a Haslam Sports Group media release issued Thursday. Private funders would also cover any cost overruns.
"We are working on a new domed stadium, but we're also putting in a pretty substantial mixed-use development. And we look at this as a sports and entertainment district," Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said in a media release.
The city of Brook Park, Cuyahoga County and the state of Ohio would each contribute to the project, according to the proposal. Together, Brook Park and Cuyahoga County would issue $600 million in bonds, with the state of Ohio issuing another $600 million.
The county and Brook Park would cover the payments on those bonds with tax revenue primarily generated by the project, the release said.
The team's owners are proposing Cuyahoga County raise the bed tax on hotels from 6.5% to 7.5% and authorize a fee on rental cars, arguing visitors would be more likely to shoulder these expenses.
The biggest share of the bonds issued by Cuyahoga County would be repaid by those who visit the Brook Park facility. Browns ownership is proposing Brook Park raise the admission tax from 3% to 6.5% and also tax parking. They also propose diverting income tax from players and other workers on the site to the project.
"I think what is attractive to us is the vast majority of those monies, bed taxes and rental car fees, are going to be paid by people who do not live in Cuyahoga County," Haslam said. "It would be unfair to say all of them, but the vast majority would be paid by people who do not live in the county."
The Browns' financial plan proposes "unprecedented" investments that the county finds too risky to make, Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne said.
"For us at the county at large, all taxpayers in Cuyahoga County included in this, this is a major risk to the county treasury, to the county bond rating," he said. "Nobody likes to see a risky venture with public funds."
The county conducted internal and outside analysis on the projections from the Haslam Sports Group, Ronayne said, but the math isn't adding up.
"Things like the bed tax are twice what we expect to be the actual return, and that means that we are in a shaky position to be able to service the debt," Ronayne said. "We're not committing bonds to this project, $600 million that they're asking for, and this proposal at this point is flawed on arrival."
Instead, the county will remain focused on Cleveland's North Coast Master Plan, Ronayne said, which aims to improve access to Lake Erie and bolster the economy along the lakefront. The Haslam Sports Group endorsed the plan in 2021.
The Browns have argued the project will have a positive economic impact across the region.
The enclosed stadium, surrounded by a mixed-use development would create an estimated 5,400 full-time permanent positions and 6,000 construction jobs and would transform 176 acres that are currently vacant, according to Thursday's release.
In December, the team released a study that asserted the team's planned relocation from Downtown to Brook Park would unlock more than $1 billion annually in economic impact for Northeast Ohio.
At the time, county officials called that number "overly optimistic" and have been resistant to the idea of investing in a new stadium built in the suburbs. Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne has repeatedly called for the Browns to consider returning to Cleveland's lakefront.
In October, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb said the team's relocation would "undoubtedly damage the city, county and region in a multitude of ways," adding that the Brook Park complex "threatens [the] viability of Downtown sports" that the city and county have already heavily invested public subsidies in.
Earlier this week, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine told Cleveland.com he was open to funding the Brook Park stadium but opposed issuing bonds, preferring to fund the project with cash. He has proposed raising taxes on sports gambling to fund sports facilities and youth sports.
