Ronayne to Haslams: ‘Come home’ – Brook Park stadium funding ‘too much to ask’

CLEVELAND, Ohio – If Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam want the county to contribute funding for a stadium, then they need to “come home” to downtown Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne stressed during a joint press event Monday with County Council Chairman Pernel Jones, Jr.

The county can’t afford to help finance the $2.4 billion roofed stadium the Browns are considering building at Brook Park, half of which the Haslams hope will come from public funds, Ronayne said. That could bring the county’s share to about $600 million, he estimated, but he doesn’t think that funding model would work.

“We believe, after looking at it … that this dog does not hunt,” Ronayne said of the plan. “Six hundred million is too much to ask of us.”

Instead, he wants the Browns to “come back home,” refocusing their plans toward downtown, at the lakefront stadium, which loomed in the background as Ronayne spoke from in front of the Hilton hotel. He has seen designs for a renovated downtown stadium, though they have not been made public, and called them “exciting.”

“This is a plan that works,” he said of the stadium renovation plan.

What that plan will look like or how exactly it will be funded, however, remains unclear. Ronayne declined to say how much funding the county would be most willing to provide and whether it would include tax revenue or borrowing more money. But a funding proposal that Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb released earlier this month might provide some clues.

Bibb has offered to contribute $461 million toward a roughly $1 billion stadium renovation as part of a 30-year lease extension. However, that funding is largely contingent on the county extending and possibly raising the sin tax and on some public entity, such as the county or state, backing the bonds needed to finance the deal up front.

Ronayne stressed that the county needs to maintain bonding capacity for other commitments, especially as construction of a new jail and courthouse approaches. The possibility of borrowing $300 million to contribute to the Brook Park plan “is not something we’re going to consider,” he said.

But he did not immediately rule out taking some level of risk on the stadium renovation as part of Bibb’s proposal.

“I have no reservations about it,” he told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer of Bibb’s plan.

The news event, which Ronayne and Jones framed as a campaign to keep the Browns downtown, came a day after they sent a joint letter urging the Haslams to abandon plans to move the stadium to Brook Park. They reiterated their argument that the city, county, taxpayers and business owners have already invested heavily in downtown Cleveland and those investments must be protected.

“There’s a shared benefit to having the team here in downtown Cleveland,” Jones said.

Although Jones and Ronayne were “united” in their vision for the stadium, it did not appear that Jones had the full support of the rest of the council. As Jones was answering questions from the media, Councilman Martin J. Sweeney attempted to intervene but was silenced.

Sweeney later told cleveland.com that it was “too premature” to dismiss the Brook Park plan because council members were still being briefed. Without those details, the event had “no iota of substance,” he said.

He has not yet said which plan he thinks is best or whether moving the stadium could harm downtown, only advocating “due diligence.”

Councilwoman Meredith Turner, who was also present, was more reserved. She acknowledged she is still weighing options and waiting to see the full renovation and funding package, but said she is “very confident in the executive and the president’s process for now.”

The Haslams, however, don’t appear ready to abandon Brook Park just yet. In response to Ronayne and Jones’ letter on Sunday, the owners said that “it would be short-sighted for Northeast Ohio to rule out any option for a long-term decision of this magnitude at this time.”

The Browns are still negotiating with the city over a new lease once their current one expires after the 2028 season. The county, so far, has not been involved in that process, Ronayne said, but still has a significant stake in the outcome, even for sentimental reasons.

The stadium “has hosted everything,” Ronayne said, from Browns games to major events like the World Series of Rock and Roll and concerts, including a recent performance by the Rolling Stones.

“History lives here at Cleveland Browns Stadium,” Ronayne said, “and we look forward to the future living here with the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland, Ohio, at Cleveland Browns Stadium.”