Dee Haslam, left, and Jimmy Haslam, right, Cleveland Browns' owners, watch during NFL football practice in Berea, Ohio, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Jimmy and Dee Haslam, the owners of the Cleveland Browns NFL team, have purchased a $25 million mansion in Florida, three days after the team’s ownership group received a $600 million gift in taxpayer funds for a new stadium.
Reports show that the billionaire couple acquired a 5,906 square foot oceanfront home in North Palm Beach, Fla. on July 3, two days after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed the state’s $60 billion budget into law, which included the $600 million gift. The sale was first reported by The Real Deal and Akron Beacon Journal.
The Haslams, who made their money mainly through previously owning the Pilot Flying J truck stop chain, will join an exclusive neighborhood that regulates who is allowed to purchase a home there; prospective buyers first need approval from Lost Tree Village Property Owners Association. This process reportedly involves getting two sponsors, five references, a check for $50,000 and an interview with a committee.
The $600 million is not expected to be paid back to the state, and the money comes from Ohio’s Unclaimed Funds Account. The Haslam Sports Group asked for the money to build a new domed stadium in Brook Park, a suburb 10 miles south of Cleveland. A class action lawsuit filed by former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann and former state Rep. Jeffrey Crossman, both members of the Democratic Party, challenges the constitutionality of using funds money the Unclaimed Funds Account to pay for the stadium project.
The Unclaimed Funds Account is overseen by the Ohio Department of Commerce and is comprised of balances from accounts like old bank accounts, uncashed checks, unused insurance policies, forgotten rent deposits. Residents and sections of the Cleveland city government have money in the pool, and the city reportedly submitted a claim worth almost $138,000.
Ohio Republicans also significantly weakened the Modell Law to allow for the relocation to Brook Park to happen. The state law, passed in 1996 a year after Art Modell relocated the original Cleveland Browns to Baltimore, requires professional team owners that receive tax funds to put their team up for sale for six months before relocating it. But DeWine and Republican legislators approved provisions to void the law if the team stays in Ohio.
In 2014, Haslam and his brother Bill, who served as the governor of Tennessee from 2011-19, were fined $92 million related to scamming customers of their truck-stop company Pilot Flying J. The company-wide scandal stemmed from cheating customers out of promised rebates and discounts.