The city of Cleveland has filed a lawsuit over the Cleveland Browns’ plans to move to a new $2.4 billion domed stadium and entertainment complex in Brook Park.
Team owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam informed the city of their plans in October, which would keep the NFL team in the county but move it south.
The suit, filed in Ohio on Tuesday and reported by ESPN, cites the Modell Law — a state law ruling that professional sports owners who use tax-supported facilities for home games and receive funding from the state or a political sub-division cannot leave without permission to play elsewhere or six months’ notice.
NEWS: The Cleveland Browns are planning to leave the city of Cleveland for a new $2.4 billion domed stadium in Brook Park, Mayor Justin Bibb has announced.
The team’s lease at Huntington Bank Field is up in 2028. pic.twitter.com/NsKMTUtMzQ
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) October 17, 2024
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Cleveland Browns stadium move
The Haslams want to make the move when the Browns’ stadium lease with the city expires after the 2028 NFL season and have been seeking a 50-50 split between private and public sources to build their proposed new stadium.
The filing says that the statute ensures team owners cannot “bilk the city and its taxpayers for millions, only to unilaterally abandon what the City provided to them.”
“If you take taxpayer money to fund your stadium, you have obligations to the community that made that investment possible,” said Mark Griffin, the law director and chief legal counsel for the city, calling the law “clear”.
“The Haslam Group’s circumvention of these requirements not only undermines the trust of Cleveland’s residents but also violates a law designed to protect all Ohioans.”
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Cleveland city: Modell Law
The law, passed in 1996, was used in 2019 to stop the Columbus Crew from moving to Texas, with the Haslams, who also part-own NBA team the Milwaukee Bucks, buying the Major League Soccer team.
The Browns have played at the 65,000-capacity Huntington Bank Field since returning to Cleveland as an expansion franchise in 1999 and have played by the Lake Erie since their creation in 1946.
“It is ironic that the Haslams, who are currently not complying with Ohio’s Modell Law, previously relied on the same law to acquire the Columbus Crew soccer team,” added Griffin.
“Their use of the law to secure the Crew underscores the importance of these protections for communities and taxpayers, making their current sidestepping of the Modell Law even more glaring.”
Browns: ‘Long-term stadium solution’
In January, Haslam Sports group-chief operating officer Dave Jenkins said the Browns had “taken the necessary steps” in a land purchase agreement to “solidify” the purchase of the 176-acre site in Brook Park.
“While work remains with our public partners on the project, this is a key step in our efforts to create a responsible long-term stadium solution that delivers a world-class experience for our fans, attracts more large-scale events for our region and positively impacts our local economy,” Jenkins said at the time.
Last August, the city offered the Browns a $1.2bn proposal to renovate Huntington Bank Field and redevelop its surrounding property, including a contribution of $461 million and the offer of a 30-year extension of the team’s lease.
