Browns owners: Renovate the lakefront stadium or new dome away from downtown

ORLANDO, FLA. — The Browns have made their thoughts known on what they're looking for when their stadium lease expires at the end of 2028. Either it's a renovation of the current lakefront stadium, or it'll be a new domed stadium located outside of downtown.

Owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam met with a small group of beat writers on Monday at the NFL meetings in Orlando, Fla., and left no gray area in terms of the directions the team would look to resolve the stadium issue. If Cleveland Browns Stadium can't be renovated, then options outside of the city, including one in Brook Park, are going to be considered.

"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. "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 stated publicly prior to Monday that options outside of just Cleveland Browns Stadium — which opened in 1999, the first year of the expansion franchise — were being considered. The Haslams themselves hinted at it last July when Jimmy Haslam said at The Greenbriar in West Virginia that "(t)he only thing Dee and I would say for sure is we're not leaving northeastern Ohio. OK, that's for sure. Our preference is to be on the lakefront, but we’ve got to see how things play out."

That tone grew much more firm when the team issues a statement in early February after news of the Haslams having an option to buy a 176-acre parcel of land in Brook Park emerged. The team responded with a statement at that time saying they were "studying other potential stadium options in Northeast Ohio at various additional sites."

The Haslams confirmed the option to purchase the Brook Park property Monday. It's located less than a mile from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and roughly two miles from the Browns' Berea headquarters.

That land, which was formerly the site of two Ford Motor plants, is situated in an area bordered on three sides by State Route 237 to the west, Snow Road to the south and I-71 to the east. The Norfolk Southern railroad tracks run between the property and Ohio 237.

That acreage, if the Browns were to build on that space, would more than satisfy the needs of a modern stadium. Not only that, but it would address one of the major criticisms of the current site.

"Listen, one of the things we want to do with a new stadium — if we go that route — we do not have a lot of parking," Jimmy Haslam said. "A new stadium, you’d have 12,000 to 15,000 parking spaces, which is dramatically different from what we have now."

Monday was as direct as the Haslams themselves have been regarding the potential of the Browns playing anywhere other than the current site. The Browns, be it at the current stadium or the now-demolished Cleveland Municipal Stadium with the old franchise before it relocated to Baltimore in 1995, have played at that site since 1946.

"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 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."

Jimmy Haslam pointed to other NFL teams as examples where the fact the stadium isn't located downtown hasn't diminished those brands. He specifically pointed to the Dallas Cowboys, who play in Arlington, Texas, as one.

Others who don't include the Buffalo Bills, who play in nearby Orchard Park, N.Y. The San Francisco 49ers technically play in Santa Clara, Calif., while both "New York" teams — the Giants and Jets — play in East Rutherford, N.J.

"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.

There was some public pushback to the February statement from the team. The city's Chief of Staff, Bradford Davy, issued a lengthy statement at the time, starting, "Keeping the Browns at home on the downtown Cleveland lakefront is a priority for Mayor (Justin) Bibb and city leadership."

The Haslams pushed back at any public negotiating tactic by affirming the cooperation they've had throughout the process with the mayor's office and other city officials.

"I mean, we've worked really well with the Mayor," Dee Haslam said. "We've been very transparent the whole time. We're in constant contact with his team that we both want what's best for Cleveland."

At the owners' meetings a year ago in Phoenix, the preference the Haslams spoke about was to include a massive stadium renovation as part of a more broad development of the land along Lake Erie. The plan they have pitched was a mixed-use development project that includes everything from residential, retail and office space along the lakefront.

Two things were central to that idea. One was a land bridge that would connect downtown proper to the actual lakefront, instead of the current situation where State Route 2 essentially cuts off the former from the latter, which remains merely in the conceptual stages.

The other piece of the puzzle, after that was completed, was the stadium renovation. Jimmy Haslam put the price tag at that at at least $1 billion.

"There's pros and cons of all options, and that's what we're working through," he said. "I mean, these are big complicated projects.… The cost of the Sherwin-Williams building, which is an awesome statement to downtown, is I think $675 million or something. We're talking about spending $1 billion to remodel down there on the lakefront and way more than that to build a new domed stadium. So I hate to keep using the word complex projects, but they are."

Both Haslams ruled out the possibility of finding another site in downtown Cleveland where a new stadium could be constructed. There has previously been speculation that the post office complex, located officially at 2400 Orange Ave., just south of I-77, could be a potential stadium site.

Dee Haslam said that site would be "too small" for the project. Jimmy Haslam pointed to the same "ingress, egress" issues that currently plague the lakefront stadium.

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns owners' stadium options: Renovation or dome away from downtown