On June 30th, 2025, in the actual 11th hour Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed into law the 2025 Ohio State budget thar was due by midnight. In that state budget was the allotment of a $600 million dollar loan to the Haslam Sports Group for the new indoor Huntington Bank Field and home of the Cleveland Browns which is scheduled to open at the start of the 2029 NFL season. There is much disinformation regarding the funding and use of this money being distributed.

To start this money is not just for the Cleveland Browns nor is it taxpayer money. The funds are from the long stagnant unclaimed funds in the state of Ohio. The total amount of the funds that are unclaimed is $4.8 billion dollars. This is money from unclaimed settlements or closed accounts in Ohio. $1.7 billion of those funds have not been claimed or touched in over twenty years was set aside to lend to Ohio sports teams for their facilities. This will include the Cincinnati Bengals with their need for the remodeling of their stadium. All professional Ohio sports teams benefit from this including minor league teams. Now a former Ohio Attorney General is preparing a class action lawsuit against this budget program for the state.

Former Ohio State Attorney General Marc Dann and former State Representative Jeff Crossman filed a class action suit stating that the unclaimed funds are private property being confiscated by the state for public use. The issue with their case is that there is nothing stopping anyone owed unclaimed funds from claiming the funds. The website to claim the funds is publicly available and the link is here:

https://com.ohio.gov/divisions-and-programs/unclaimed-funds

Also, the funds that were allotted for this program has sat untouched for over twenty years and have yet to be claimed with public knowledge that people can claim the money owed to them. It is a valiant effort for people who oppose the new stadium for the Browns. But the result will be a dome stadium opening in Brookpark Ohio in 2029. And Cleveland Browns fans hope with the result of a championship caliber team with their new home.