CLEVELAND, Ohio – Want a piece of the stadium to preserve your fond memories of football games on the lakefront?
You’ll have to check with the Browns when the stadium is being demolished, not the city of Cleveland, which owns the stadium, according to terms of a tentative deal reached between Mayor Justin Bibb and the team.
That question was among many posed by City Council as it considers whether to approve the deal.
Specifically, council asked: If Cleveland decides to sell off stadium assets as memorabilia or recycling/reuse, will those proceeds remain with the city?
In short, the answer from Bibb was no.
“The Browns bear full responsibility for the demo of the stadium, and so will control all components of the demo work, including potential recycling / reuse of materials to maximize efficiency, as well as disposition of personal property,” said Bibb’s written response.
Long-time Browns fans will recall that several people took it upon themselves to begin dismantling the stadium during the last game at the old stadium in 1995 - as Art Modell was preparing to move the team to Baltimore.
Pictures showed fans carrying the old wooden seats. Some seats later showed up elsewhere as souvenirs.
The new stadium opened in 1999, marking the return of the Browns to the NFL.
On Monday, council members spent hours questioning members of Bibb’s team on many other parts of the agreement, which calls for the city to drop all pending litigation against the team, while the Browns pay Cleveland $70 million and cover the roughly $30 million cost of demolishing the stadium.
Council is being asked to approve the agreement, which would trigger the first $25 million payment as soon as next month.
The joint meeting of the Municipal Services and Properties Committee, the Development, Planning and Sustainability Committee and the Transportation and Mobility Committee ended without a vote. Still, skepticism surfaced repeatedly.
“We collectively cannot continue to make bad decisions around this city,” said Councilman Michael Polensek, who has represented Collinwood since 1978, the year the Browns drafted eventual legends Clay Matthews and Ozzie Newsome.
Polensek pointed to past choices — a waterfront commuter line “nobody wants to ride,” the anticipated departure of the county jail and its jobs to Garfield Heights, and looming school closures — as warnings against moving too quickly on another major decision.
“I see nothing before us that says anything about stabilizing our city, specifically the East Side of the city,” Polensek said.
Chief of Staff Bradford Davy, pressed by Councilman Brian Kazy, described the agreement as a take-it-or-leave-it proposal.
“I will still be a no vote here,” Kazy said. “I don’t know if this will pass through council or not.”
City officials warned that rejecting the deal could leave Cleveland on the hook for demolition costs and without the $50 million earmarked for lakefront development, plus $20 million in additional project funding to be determined later.
The conversation also veered into whether the stadium should be razed at all if the Browns leave downtown by 2029.
“Once the stadium comes down, he (Jimmy Haslam) has no competition to Jimmy’s World out there” in Brook Park, Polensek said.
Thomas McNair, chief integrated development officer, said, “I would think that the adaptive reuse of a facility like that would be incredibly expensive. Somebody’s going to need that money to come from somewhere. And I can tell you right now, I don’t care if it’s an adaptive reuse of a stadium, an office building, an apartment building, they all look at us to start plugging those gaps.”
Jessica Trivisonno, senior advisor for major projects, added that a soccer facility has been part of early discussions for the lakefront site.
Councilman Richard Starr questioned why other cities have negotiated richer packages from their sports teams.
Davy responded that “every stadium deal is different,” and emphasized that Cleveland is receiving money without committing any of its own toward a new facility. “The only thing we are delivering,” he said, “is the Cleveland Browns not playing football downtown anymore.”
Under the agreement, the Browns plan to relocate to a new stadium in Brook Park in 2029. If construction falls behind, they could extend their current lease one year at a time through 2030.
The settlement also obligates the city to drop its litigation against the team and to use its “best efforts” to seek dismissal of a related taxpayer lawsuit filed by former Mayor Dennis Kucinich.
Kucinich addressed council during public comment.
“I say these are our Browns. We should not let them move,” Kucinich said. “And certainly, the city council being as street smart as many of you members are, certainly understands when there’s a hustle at work. Trying to push to get a decision by Dec. 1 to take $25 million - what’s the rush, to take $25 million or what?”
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