While repaying the hefty cost of building this sports dome, Ohio could not use those funds for other purposes, such as better funding for public schools.
Browns fans react to news of new stadium, move to Brook Park
Fans gave their reactions after team owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam announced the Cleveland Browns are moving to Brook Park to build a new dome stadium.
An unprecedented plan to issue $600 million in state bonds to help build a dome stadium for the billionaire owners of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns smells as bad as the team’s on-field performance.
We don’t oppose some state support for a new Browns stadium and see an all-season facility as a potential game changer for northeast Ohio. Whether the stadium belongs in suburban Brook Park or downtown Cleveland is for Browns’ owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam and the good people of northeast Ohio to decide.
But House Speaker Matt Huffman and his Republican colleagues are wrong to risk $600 million plus interest for just one of Ohio’s many professional teams, while ignoring Gov. Mike DeWine’s smart and responsible sports gambling tax increase to help teams across Ohio.
The Browns want to scrap their 26-year-old lakefront stadium paid for by taxpayers.
At the same time, their rivals in Cincinnati are working on a deal for $1.25 billion in renovations to 25-year-old Paycor Stadium, the taxpayer-owned home of the Bengals. There are also on-and-off talks about replacing Cincinnati’s aging downtown arena, which hosts minor league hockey.
Here in Columbus, Nationwide Arena, the 25-year-old home of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority, says its arena needs $170 million for major upgrades and repairs, including a roof and HVAC equipment. The privately built arena was purchased by taxpayers in 2012 to ease financial pressures on the Blue Jackets, with casino taxes earmarked to help cover costs.
Down the street stands Lower.com Field, the 4-year-old home of the Columbus Crew, a soccer team also owned by the Haslams. The $314 million facility, built after the community’s successful “Save The Crew” movement, is owned by the Confluence Community Authority, a special district governed by the city of Columbus and Franklin County.
The Crew’s stadium was made possible with $314 million from the Haslams and more than $100 million in work outside the stadium by the city, Franklin County and the state. The team’s $10 per year lease allows it to buy the stadium for 30% of its fair market value in 2047.
In short, the Haslams paid for the Crew’s stadium, while various governments helped make it feasible and desirable.
The Haslams now want a better deal in Cleveland and are counting on lawmakers they’ve supported with significant financial donations to hand them $600 million and another $400 million in interest.
What the Browns want
The proposed dome between Cleveland Hopkins Airport and Interstate 71 would cost $2.4 billion based on projections made before recent tariffs and economic uncertainty. It would feature 65,000 seats with the potential to host a Super Bowl and other major indoor sporting events in Ohio.
The Haslams want to pay half or $1.2 billion, with the rest coming from government sources, including $600 million from Ohio and $600 million from a myriad of taxes in northeast Ohio, including rental cars and other tourism activities. There’s widespread opposition to the local part of the plan, including from Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne.
Funds to repay the state’s share would come from future income, sales and commercial activity taxes earmarked from the stadium’s development area, which the Browns project at $2.9 billion over a 30-year lease, Cleveland.com reported. The sales tax is projected to generate $1.42 billion, while the income tax that some Republicans want to scrap would add $1.35 billion.
There’s no way to know if these lofty projections will be accurate even when taxing professional athletes, but we’ve seen similar projections come up short in the past.
While repaying the $600 million, Ohio could not use those funds for other purposes, such as better funding for public schools.
To their credit, the Haslams have floated a $38 million up-front investment predicted to grow to $150 million to protect the state from losses. They’ve also pledged to cover any cost overruns.
Proponents argue the new stadium’s potential economic benefits dwarf what the current Browns stadium would produce, even with renovations, perhaps making Ohio well more than $600 million.
DeWine’s plan could benefit all teams
DeWine wants to support all of Ohio’s sports facility needs by doubling the tax that sports gambling companies pay on their profits from bets sports fans lose.
This would allow the state government to play a role in supporting sports franchises everywhere while ensuring it can fund essential government services. The cost burden would fall on out-of-state companies already raking in large profits off Ohioans’ voluntary bets.
“Ohio citizens are giving every single day millions of dollars to sports gaming companies,” DeWine said in February. “It’s time for us to raise the tax on them so that we can do things to help Ohioans.”
But the Ohio House’s version of the state budget failed to include DeWine’s proposals, choosing to focus only on the Browns’ proposal.
“The reality is we cannot afford … to use general fund dollars to rehab stadiums or to build new sports stadiums. We do not have the money to do it,” DeWine said Tuesday, noting the competing priorities of education, mental health and battling drug addiction among others.
DeWine’s higher tax would generate an estimated $130 million to $180 million per year, which should be sufficient to help every facility and, as the governor pitched, help children participate in sports.
We prefer DeWine’s proposal as it earns revenue from sports fans without compromising funds needed for core services.
Public funding justified to a point
We’re aware that many people see public investments in arenas and stadiums as wasteful, with little chance of recouping taxpayer investments while team owners are enriched. If the Haslams get this dome built and later sell the Browns, their profit would likely be staggering, given recent team sales.
A strong case can be made to force the Haslams or any owner to spend their own money on construction while using government funds to cover other infrastructure costs. Call it the Crew model, even if DeWine’s sports betting tax is in play.
Regardless of how the Browns situation unfolds, it’s undeniable that some level of public support makes these projects worthwhile.
Just look at the Columbus Arena District, once a decaying area known for a deteriorating old prison. Besides the Blue Jackets, Clippers and Crew, the Arena District has become home to more than 75 businesses, at least 17,000 area workers, and many apartments and condos. We’re now a major professional sports city, a status that factors in our community’s projected growth and landing jobs projects such as Intel and Anduril.
We’re not against the Browns’ dome and the positive redevelopment it could bring. We’re demanding a solution focused on helping all Ohio teams win on and off the field.
This editorial was written by Dispatch Executive Editor Michael Sherer on behalf of the editorial board of The Columbus Dispatch. Editorials are fact-based assessments of issues of importance to the communities we serve. These are not the opinions of our reporting staff members, who strive for neutrality in their reporting.
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