Browns moving forward with domed stadium in Brook Park, Cleveland mayor says

The Cleveland Browns intend to build a new domed stadium in Brook Park, Ohio, Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb and the team confirmed on Thursday.

Bibb revealed during a news conference at city hall that the Haslam Sports Group, headed by Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, decided not to pursue a significant renovation of the Browns’ current lakefront stadium outside of downtown Cleveland and instead will move to the suburban Brook Park. In a separate statement, Bibb confirmed the Haslams delivered the news during a meeting on Wednesday evening.

He called the decision “frustrating and profoundly disheartening.”

“Over the past two years, this administration made relentless efforts to craft solutions that advance both the HSG’s objectives and the long-term interests of our residents and the broader community,” Bibb said in the statement. “We put forth a fiscally responsible yet aggressive financial package – larger than any other financial package offered for a sports facility in Cleveland to renovate the existing stadium.

“When the Haslams shifted course and abandoned their renovation plans, we pivoted to explore options for a new stadium and offered to make a portion of Burke Lakefront Airport available to the team for redevelopment to include a new domed stadium and adjacent development, comparable — arguably better — than the vision the Haslam Sports Group proposed for Brook Park. However, the organization was not interested in pursuing this option.”

The Browns’ lease with the city of Cleveland is set to expire at the end of the 2028 season, clearing the way for a new home in the years ahead.

Huntington Bank Field, the Browns’ current stadium, sits adjacent to both Lake Erie and Ohio Route 2, which separates it from downtown Cleveland. Getting traffic in and out of stadium events can be a nightmare and parking can be difficult. In Brook Park, the Haslams can own a lot of the parking — and that’s certainly part of their thinking, even as additional lanes and highway ramps will probably be needed to help traffic flow. The Haslams didn’t want to announce this with the team at 1-5, but the decision had long been all but finalized.

In August, the Browns announced their intentions to move to Brook Park, which is about 13 miles southwest of the current stadium, because it was “their most compelling option,” describing it as a $2.4 billion project.

At the time, the Browns said it had determined with the city of Cleveland that the Burke Lakefront Airport option was not feasible and that it could not put a dome over Huntington Bank Field “because of economic restraints and FAA restrictions.” In its official statement on Thursday, the team pointed to “significant design, construction, geotechnical and environmental challenges” with the Burke site upon completing “further diligence.”

“We have exhausted every single option to keep the Browns in our great city without compromising the general revenue of our city,” Bibb told reporters on Thursday.

The Browns have played in their current building since the franchise returned to the NFL in 1999. The new stadium is likely to keep the Huntington Bank Field moniker; Huntington Bank agreed to a 20-year lease agreement for the Browns’ “existing or new home” in September.

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(Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)