On May 15th the Cleveland Browns issued a letter to Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne explaining that the Cleveland Browns are moving forward with the multi-purpose indoor football stadium project in the Cleveland suburb of Brookpark Ohio with or without the funding from the county. Along with County Executive Ronayne, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb opposed the Browns moving to Brookpark. They had tried keep the Browns playing in downtown Cleveland by offering a renovation of the current stadium. But the Cleveland Browns owners have a bigger vision for the northeast Ohio region.

The proposed project in Brookpark is waiting on a bond approval from the state of Ohio for $600 million dollars. The entire project is estimated to cost $3.6 billion dollars with $2.4 billion already funded with private investments. The last $1.2 billion is broken down with $600 million in state bonds that are expected to be paid back in revenue from the facility. $300 million from Brookpark and $300 million from Cuyahoga County and that will probably be covered by the Haslam Sports Group. The bond approval from the state is expected to be in the 2025 state budget due on 6/30/2025. Once that is approved construction is expected to begin in early 2026 and stadium is scheduled to be open in August of 2029. The question and pushback that residents of northeast Ohio give is why build a new building for a losing football team? That is the deciding factor in this debate.

In May of 1989 Cuyahoga passed a tax on alcohol and tobacco to fund the Gateway Project by a margin of 51%-49%. The project built the current Rocket Arena and Progressive Field that both opened in 1994. Before the vote Major League Baseball Commissioner threatened to move the Cleveland Indians if a new ballpark wasn’t built. And at that time the Indians were a national joke of a baseball team. But since 1994 the Indians / Guardians have made 15 postseason appearances, winning 12 Division Titles, winning 3 American League Pennants, and took 2 World Series into Game 7 losing in extra innings. They were within a whisker of winning two World Championships. Before that the Indians haven’t seen the post season since 1954. But the fans embraced the new ballpark with winning baseball. Many people have made the same arguments to vote against the tax and the new ballpark in 1989. The Cleveland Browns situation is not the same as the Indians in 1989. But both teams will have the same factor deciding how accepting the fans will be of the new stadium.

The bottom line is when the Cleveland Browns take the field at the new stadium in 2029, they need to win consistently. They must be an exceptional football team and organization both on and off the field. That is the difference between Cleveland Browns fans embracing or rejecting the new stadium. Like the late great Al Davis said “Just Win Baby’ !