'We strongly urge you to reject the costly and risky Brook Park proposal and instead support renovation of Huntington Bank Field downtown,' the pair wrote senators.
CLEVELAND — Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb has joined Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne in his effort to convince Ohio lawmakers to abandon a plan to provide state-backed bonds for a proposed Browns domed stadium in Brook Park in favor of renovating the existing facility on the lakefront.
Bibb and Ronayne jointly sent each member of the Ohio Senate a letter asking specifically for the state to provide $350 million to help turn the current Huntington Bank Field into "a robust transformed lakefront stadium." Ronayne made a similar request in a letter to Senate leaders last week.
"We strongly urge you to reject the costly and risky Brook Park proposal and instead support renovation of Huntington Bank Field downtown – an investment that protects taxpayers, maximizes existing public investments, and strengthens the economic and cultural heart of our region," the pair wrote in the letter dated May 6.
A GLIMPSE AT THE POSSIBLE
On Wednesday, a rendering of a renovated Huntington Bank Field surfaced in a story in Scene. In a statement, the Haslam Sports Group, owners of the Browns, noted that the image was "created as part of a process almost three years ago."
"We methodically explored the lakefront renovation for several years, and it became abundantly clear that putting any money into renovating the current open-air stadium is a short-sighted, short-term fix that will only create the same issues down the road and also will impede the City of Cleveland’s opportunity to finally re-imagine the lakefront," said HSG Chief Operating Officer Dave Jenkins in a statement.
Jenkins added that HSG has not had "substantive renovation discussions in months and have never been presented with a viable funding plan for a renovation from Cuyahoga County or the City of Cleveland to pair with our private investment."
Bibb and Ronayne say they are willing to lend support to a renovation plan alongside the state's participation.
"With the State of Ohio’s participation of $350 million (which is consistent with Hamilton County’s request for the Cincinnati Bengals), the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are willing to provide contributions sufficient to meet HSG’s request for the public share of a robust transformed lakefront stadium," they stated.
"A RISKY BET"
Meanwhile, HSG has been focused on trying to make its proposed $3.4 billion project in Brook Park, which features a $2.4 billion domed stadium along with a mixed-use development, a reality.
Last month, the Ohio House passed a budget that allocates $600 million in state-backed bonds to go towards the Brook Park development. The Senate is now deliberating on its version of the budget.
The Browns' domed stadium plan also called for the city of Brook Park and Cuyahoga County to provide an additional $600 million in bonds to be covered by an increased admissions tax, parking tax, bed tax and rental car surcharge.
At a press conference in March, Ronayne referred to the HSG proposal as a "risky bet with public dollars. A risk we shouldn't take."
In the May 6 letter to Ohio senators, Ronayne and Bibb used the word "risk" several times to again describe the Brook Park stadium plan. They also pointed out that the HSG proposal brought concerns from a pair of state agencies, the Office of Budget and Management and the nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission.
The LSC report indicated that the Browns may be "overly optimistic" in their calculation that the domed stadium would attract 1.5 million new visitors. Similar to the OBM's findings, the LSC stated that "the overwhelming conclusion from this body of research is that there are little to no tangible impacts of sports teams and facilities on local economic activity. A second conclusion is that the level of government subsidies given for the construction of facilities far exceeds any observed economic benefits when they do exist."
The OBM, a cabinet-level agency in the administration of Gov. Mike DeWine, stated that it could not support a budget amendment that would allocate $600 million in bonds for the Brook Park project.
"Following our review of available data, OBM is concerned about the burden that this project would place on Ohio taxpayers and the state GRF (general revenue fund), with questions about the HSG methodology and resulting projections, OBM does not support the amendment," the agency wrote.
The letter from Bibb and Ronayne looked to capitalize on those concerns, while also pointing out the savings to the state.
"By comparison (to $350 million for a renovated stadium), the Brook Park stadium proposal by HSG doubles the expected public contribution, while moving the stadium out of the downtown core, where the City and County have invested billions," they wrote. "Cuyahoga County has evaluated the assumptions made in the HSG proposal and has come to the same conclusion as the Legislative Services Commission and the State Office of Budget and Management – that the proposal is too risky and is a risk that the voters of Cuyahoga County and the State of Ohio should not assume."
Why are area political leaders and the HSG pushing hard for an answer from Columbus?
At the NFL Annual Meeting in March, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said that if $600 million in funding for the stadium proposal is included in the state's budget at the end of June, the plan is to have shovels in the ground to begin construction in Brook Park in the first quarter of next year.
If not, Haslam said the Browns would move to "Plan B," which would be renovating the existing stadium in downtown Cleveland.