CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - A major development in the Stadium Showdown as the City Planning Commission approves Mayor Justin Bibb’s deal with the Haslam Sports Group.
Cleveland’s Planning Commission has signed off on demolition, site work, and potential lease extensions for the current Browns’ stadium.
But the Mayor’s controversial deal with the Haslams still has to be approved by a city council that so far has been outspoken and not on board.
Mayor Bibb told 19 News, “The reality is this, when the Browns leave to go to Brook Park in 2029, but for this investment from the Haslam Family, we would not have the financial resources to tear down that stadium and make it a shovel-ready site to invest and accelerate a lakefront development.
The city did not have a lot of options, according to Mayor Bibb who says the cards were stacked against the city once the Haslams secure $600-million to leave the city and go to Brook Park, and once state gutted the Modell Law which undermined the city’s legal battle.
The $100-million deal with the Haslams includes support to redevelop the lakefront when the time comes to tear down the current stadium.
So, Mayor Bibb says, “I’m going to keep making the case to the council president and members of council about how this deal does the three things they asked me to do when this fight started, protect the general revenue fund, protect the taxpayers of Cleveland, and make sure we’re not left empty-handed. Now, we have $100-million investment to turn the page and write the next chapter of Cleveland’s story.”
If the Cleveland City Council votes to approve the Haslams’ deal the first payment of $25-million dollars will be made on December 1st.
The deal also includes dropping the lawsuits filed by the city, and the Browns get their new domed stadium in Brook Park, while the city uses the land redeveloped when the old stadium is eventually torn down for Lakefront development.
Projects the Mayor believes could provide an abundance of job opportunities, “Folks are going through hard times right now. The economy is in trouble, inflation continues to be a problem. We have to put more focus on putting Clevelanders and Northeast Ohio Ohioans to work, and we have billions of dollars in the pipeline of a great construction project. Now we’ve got to make sure we do this well.”
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