Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne sent a letter to the Haslam Sports Group on Monday responding to a letter he received last week about HSG moving forward on a new stadium without the county's help. His response to the ownership group indicates he plans to hold them to their word that the Brook Park stadium can be done without county taxpayers spending a dime.
In the letter, Ronayne said the county is focused on two things regarding the future of where the Cleveland Browns will play:
- Protect the interests of Cuyahoga taxpayers, and
- Keep the Cleveland Browns in Downtown Cleveland, where they have long served as an anchor for economic, cultural and civic life.
Ronayne responded to HSG on Monday, saying, "As you stated in your May 15, 2025 letter, the proposed Brook Park project requires no financial support from Cuyahoga County. We appreciate that clarity and will hold you to it."
In his response, Ronayne accuses HSG of misleading the public for the company's own financial gain.
"This declaration reveals Haslam Sports Group’s greed and opportunism throughout this process. The $600 million in bonds requested from Cuyahoga County was never needed for this project and we now clearly see that you have spent the last two years attempting to bully the public and fleece County taxpayers for HSG’s private gain," Ronayne wrote in his response.
He continues, stating that the letter he received from HSG, "distorts the facts, misleads the public, and omits critical information. The truth is simple: you’re pushing a costly, risky, and poorly conceived plan that uses public subsidy to diminish our region, our communities, and our businesses."
The county executive concludes the letter saying that he supports local taxpayers, but doesn't support "this Browns boondoggle."
You can read Ronayne's letter below:
Monday, HSG issued the following response to Ronayne's letter:
"As we specifically conveyed to the County Executive in last week’s letter and throughout this process, an open-air stadium on the lakefront is not strategic and is only a short-term solution. The point he continues to miss is that the upside for the public can be far greater with the County’s partnership. We have had extremely positive and constructive collaboration within our community, with corporate leaders and with state officials who understand and support the transformative nature of this opportunity. The County Executive is correct, that due to his determination to stop billions of dollars of private investment in his own county, we had to create a construct without the County's participation. But make no mistake, by not participating, he is not impeding this transformative solution, he is negatively impacting the growth of Northeast Ohio and the several hundreds of millions of excess dollars generated on the public side that could go towards lakefront redevelopment, the City of Cleveland and other Cuyahoga County needs."
Last week, with state legislators considering make-or-break funding for a new suburban Cleveland Browns stadium, Mayor Justin Bibb and Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne pleaded with Columbus to help them keep the Browns Downtown.
HSG sent a letter to Ronayne criticizing those recent comments — while standing firm on the team’s desire to build an enclosed stadium in Brook Park.
Watch more about the letter from HSG below:
The letter, signed by Haslam Sports Group Chief Operating Officer Dave Jenkins, chided Ronayne for sharing “misleading information,” offered a bulleted list of reasons why local leaders should support the team’s Brook Park plans, and then stated:
“It is truly disheartening to see you, as County Executive, actively work against a potential $600 million investment from the State that would be paired with $2 billion+ in private investment for an unprecedented $3 billion+ economic development project centrally located in Cuyahoga County. These are the types of inexplicable decisions that keep the Greater Cleveland region from thriving, while other regions like Columbus and Cincinnati continue to grow and evolve.”
In the letter, shared with News 5, the Browns made clear that they'd still prefer to get the county's buy-in — and help with stadium financing.
Haslam Sports Group wants the public to cover half the tab — $1.2 billion. They've asked the state and county to each borrow $600 million by issuing bonds — debt that would largely be repaid using tax revenues from the entire 176-acre Brook Park stadium district.
But Jenkins said Haslam Sports Group can move forward with or without the county: “To further clear up misinformation, while we have not given up on our elusive goal of local unity, and the upside for the public is far greater with the County’s partnership, we remain undeterred and are not relying on the County’s participation to execute this project.”
You can read the entire HSG letter below:
