Browns looking at renovating current stadium or building new dome near team facility
Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam confirmed during the annual league meeting on Monday that they are looking at two options for a stadium: Renovate the existing Cleveland Browns Stadium on the city's waterfront, or build a new domed stadium in Brook Park, Ohio.
The domed stadium would be close to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Browns' facility in Berea.
"I think it’s fair to say … that in all likelihood we’re either going to remodel on the lakefront with an extensive remodel or build a new stadium, which would be a dome," Jimmy Haslam said, via Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal. "Because if we did go the dome route — I’m not saying we’re doing that vs. remodeling where we are now — it could be used more than 12 times a year.”
The Browns have played on the shores of Lake Erie since 1946 — first at Cleveland Municipal Stadium through 1995. That stadium was demolished to make way for Cleveland Browns Stadium, which opened when the franchise returned in 1999.
“I think we looked at can we solve all the issues on the waterfront for our fans?" Dee Haslam said. "It’s hard to get into, hard to get out of, we have no parking. I think that was really something important for us, as [to] how to solve those issues.
"I think there’s an opportunity here to perhaps build a domed stadium that can transform our area. That’s something exciting to think about. We’re looking at both options. Not one option is above the other. But I do think that Cleveland deserves to be thought of as this evolving, forward-thinking, creative city as opposed to not thinking big.”
The Brook Park site has not yet been purchased, though the Browns have the opportunity to do so. It used to be the site of two Ford Motor plants.
Jimmy Haslam noted that no matter what happens with the Browns stadium situation, he and his wife have no plans to relocate the franchise.
"I think we've made it — the one thing we've made very clear is we're going to be in Northeastern Ohio forever as far as we're concerned," Jimmy Haslam said.
