NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio — Eighty miles from Huntington Bank Field, there’s plenty of chatter about a Cleveland Browns’ move to the suburbs.
On Wednesday, representatives for Brook Park and Haslam Sports Group traveled to Tuscarawas County to make their case for $70.3 million in state money for upgraded roads, revamped freeway ramps and other public infrastructure improvements around the future stadium site.
They presented the project to the Transportation Review Advisory Council, which works with the Ohio Department of Transportation to award competitive state funding for large projects that reduce congestion or boost capacity. Brook Park’s proposal is one of 27 projects vying for money in the current round.
The TRAC has $150 million to award next spring – and is vetting applications for $640 million worth of construction. The other Northeast Ohio proposals include highway work in Summit and Stark counties and the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s plan to rebuild its light-rail tracks stretching east from Downtown Cleveland to the suburbs.
Members of the TRAC, which is led by ODOT Director Pamela Boratyn, didn’t ask any questions about the Brook Park proposal.
The board of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, a regional planning organization, declined to recommend the project for state funding in June, citing a lack of information about the plan. Brook Park is currently taking the project through a multi-step NOACA approval process, with hopes of getting it added to the organization's long-range plan.
Meanwhile, Haslam Sports Group is spending $11 million on design work for the project, which calls for widening and extending ramps at Interstate 71 and Snow Road; streamlining the tangle of streets around the 176-acre development site; widening Engle Road; and building a pedestrian bridge across Engle near Hummel Road.
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“We’re talking about some critical – but some relatively modest – modifications to enable this project,” said Ted Tywang, general counsel and chief administrative officer for Haslam Sports Group.
Brook Park Mayor Edward Orcutt noted that thousands of workers used to use the roads there to get to a cluster of automotive plants. Ford Motor Co. still makes engines at a facility immediately north of the future stadium site, off Brookpark Road.
“We’re really fortunate to have this site,” Tywang told TRAC members. “It’s centrally located in Northeast Ohio and has great existing infrastructure.”
The state already has pledged $600 million to the stadium, using unclaimed funds that Ohio is holding from old bank accounts, life insurance payouts and other sources. The stadium project has an estimated price tag of $2.4 billion. Haslam Sports Group executives say at least half of that money will come from private sources.
The Browns are still negotiating a deal with Brook Park that could yield $300 million for stadium construction – by tapping anticipated income-tax revenues, admissions-tax revenues and parking-tax revenues from the broader stadium district, which is also slated to include about $1 billion worth of private, mixed-use development.
"We continue to work on a development agreement. That will take some time," Orcutt said after Wednesday's presentation.
And Haslam Sports Group is still trying to persuade Cuyahoga County to participate in the financing, despite steadfast opposition from County Executive Chris Ronayne.
“We haven’t given up,” said Tywang, reiterating that team owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam are determined to move forward without the county’s buy-in – but believe the financial upside will be better for everyone involved if the county participates.
Tywang said it’s too early to say whether the Browns will pursue other federal and state money for the stadium district and the infrastructure around it – though Brook Park officials and Haslam Sports Group executives have made pilgrimages to Washington, D.C.
The most recent iteration of their proposal calls for a dedicated RTA station at one edge of the site, with an estimated cost of $40 million. RTA has said it won’t pay for a new station. The transit stop is not part of Brook Park’s application for state money.
“We’re looking under every rock,” Tywang acknowledged, “because that’s how much we believe in this project. And it is a heavy lift.”
In downtown New Philadelphia, football fans were skeptical about the project— and the price tag—on Wednesday.
“The stadium’s … hardly even 25 years old. And I think it’s ridiculous. I really do,” Bill Fitz said while making his way to lunch at a downtown café.
A longtime Browns fan, he thinks professional sports team owners should shoulder more of the bill for new venues and the infrastructure to support them.
“There’s so much conversation about spending money. It’s just overwhelming,” said Chris Farnsworth, who lives in New Philadelphia. “Everybody has their hand out.”
She’s a Kansas City Chiefs fan, so she’s not particularly focused on the Browns. But she’s skeptical about making a big investment in a new facility.
“It just seems like a luxury to build a new stadium in the financial times that we’re in right now,” Farnsworth said.
Down the street, Rick Pingle was watching his crew of window cleaners at work.
He said better roads are something worth spending money on. But he doesn’t see a need for a new stadium – particularly in the suburbs.
“Being 12 miles away from Downtown Cleveland, I’m not a big fan of. It reminds me of Richfield Coliseum,” he said, referring to a defunct arena where the Cleveland Cavaliers played from 1974 to 1994.
“Put it on the lake,” he added. “That’s where it belongs. I’m a traditionalist, I guess.”
Pingle is a devoted Browns fan. He remembers going to a game at the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium when he was 12 years old. And he still comes up to Cleveland for games – though he’s frustrated by the team’s performance on the field.
But he’s opposed to public subsidies for sports facilities.
“Not everybody’s a sports fan,” he said. “I would rather put it into the arts.”
Still, if the Brook Park stadium opens as planned in 2029, he’ll eventually be there. Which is what Haslam Sports Group is banking on.
“I’m a die-hard Browns fan,” Pingle said, with a laugh. “I have to.”
