CLEVELAND — Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne traded more barbs with the Browns on Monday — and said he plans to hold the team to their recent statement that building a new Brook Park stadium isn't contingent on getting the county's buy-in.
"This is a win for us. For them to admit that they don't need us, it's a big win for us," Ronayne said during an interview at the county administration building.
He was reacting to a recent letter from team owner Haslam Sports Group, which recently said it plans to move forward on a $2.4 billion stadium in Brook Park with or without the county's help.
The Browns clearly still want the county to play a role in financing the project by issuing $600 million worth of bonds and approving a hotel-tax hike and a new countywide rental-car fee.
But they're not letting Ronayne block their play.
"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," Dave Jenkins, Haslam Sports Group's chief operating officer, wrote last week.
On Monday, Ronayne responded with a letter of his own. "We appreciate that clarity and will hold you to it," he wrote.
He went on to call the Brook Park proposal "costly, risky and poorly conceived," while accusing the Browns of "greed and opportunism." Ronayne doubled down on that during an interview, using the word "boondoggle" at least 10 times.
You can read Ronayne's letter below:
"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," he wrote.
The Browns pushed back with a statement of their own, saying Ronayne is hurting Northeast Ohio and hampering growth by fighting the suburban project and trying to keep the Browns on the Downtown lakefront.
"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."
The team's lease at Huntington Bank Field, which the city of Cleveland owns, is set to end in early 2029. That means the Browns are racing the clock to line up financing and get public approvals in time to start construction early next year.
The General Assembly is weighing a proposal to issue $600 million worth of bonds for the stadium — debt the state would repay, with interest, over 25 years using tax revenues from a broader 176-acre stadium and entertainment district in Brook Park.
Haslam Sports Group was looking for a similar commitment from the county, tied to Brook Park admissions taxes, income taxes and parking taxes from the project, along with that proposed hotel-tax increase and rental-car fee.
Brook Park Mayor Edward Orcutt believes that's a good deal.
During an interview Monday, he said he's "all in" on the project, which he sees as a boon for the city of roughly 18,000 people.
"Twenty, 25 times a year, we're gonna have 70,000 people in our city. We're looking to make money off of this," he said.
He doesn't want to get into the middle of a spat between Ronayne and the Browns. But Orcutt still hopes there's a way for everyone to find common ground on a development he sees as the best use for a former automotive plant property near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
"Right now, we have people crawling out of a pit and walking miles to be able to get to the stadium," he said of the current game day experience Downtown. "Here, you'll be able to tailgate, have that same experience of tailgating, but walking directly into the stadium that's adjacent to the parking lot."
Haslam Sports Group's plans call for 12,000 to 14,000 surface parking spaces, along with hotels, apartments, offices, retail, restaurants and entertainment venues. That's about $1 billion worth of private development, according to the team's numbers.
Owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam say they'll also invest at least $1.2 billion in the stadium, covering any cost overruns.
The Haslams say taxpayers will more than recoup their investment in the project, creating a windfall for state and local governments. But Ronayne doesn't buy their math.
"Not only do I not believe there will be excess revenues," he said, "I believe that this will be an economic calamity. I think that this will be a problem in the future, where we will look at a ghost town around a stadium. I really do. And I think that that's a shame."
He also believes the Brook Park land, which is owned by a group of industrial real estate developers and under contract to a Haslam Sports Group affiliate, is best suited to manufacturing or aviation-related uses.
"It's not the great football site that they think it is," Ronayne said. "I think it's a generational mistake, where a generation later, this town's going to look back and say 'Why did we do that in the state of Ohio?'"
The General Assembly is considering make-or-break funding for the suburban stadium as part of the next state budget. The Ohio House included $600 million in bonds in its version of the budget bill. The Senate is working on its version of the massive spending proposal.
The chambers need to reach an agreement and send the budget to Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature — and any vetoes — by the end of June.
"Right now, our concentration is on the number one thing. ... The state and their budget is going to tell everything," Orcutt said. "As long as that passes, this could be a reality. If it doesn't pass, then we may have to go and do something else with that land."
Orcutt acknowledged that Brook Park can't step in to fill the void the county leaves in the financing. The Browns were betting on the county's credit rating and clout to help them lower the cost of a sizable chunk of debt.
"We have a good rating, but to be able to go out there and issue those bonds and those numbers for ourselves isn't a reality," Orcutt said.
The Browns haven't said how they'll fill a $600 million gap, beyond alluding to a possible blend of more private money and other debt tied to local tax revenues.
This month, Ronayne and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb asked members of the Ohio Senate to help them keep the Browns Downtown, instead. They're lobbying the legislature for $350 million for a stadium renovation — the same amount Hamilton County Commissioners are seeking for a makeover of Paycor Stadium, where the Cincinnati Bengals play.
That advocacy kicked off the recent war of words — and more statements from the Browns affirming their commitment to making the Brook Park project happen.
Watch more about the recent letter from HSG below:
Jenkins, a top team executive, chided Ronayne for sharing “misleading information" and called his stance on the project "truly disheartening."
You can read the entire HSG letter below:
On Monday, Ronayne lobbed misinformation accusations right back at the Browns. Responding to the team's claims that he's hurting the region, Ronayne said he's simply fighting to build on decades of investments that are already here, instead of shifting economic activity around.
"The big win is that we all work in the same direction, that we're in the same boat, rowing together," he said. "And right now, that's not happening. Haslam Sports Group has created a civil war in this town. They have pulled people apart unnecessarily at all levels, from neighborhoods to communities to the business community. They've pulled people apart. And shame on them for doing that."
