CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - When the chief administrative officer for Haslam Sports Group, Ted Tywang, presented to state lawmakers on Tuesday, he showed why the Browns have long believed that the future home of the team could not feasibly be in Downtown Cleveland.
The organization said that a dome in Brook Park would lead to more business for Northeast Ohio and downtown specifically, saying the waterfront is better off using the stadium lot as open space.
“We believe has the benefit of freeing up valuable lakefront property in Downtown Cleveland,” Tywang said. “Our stadium is currently used 10,12 times a year and it’s a big footprint. It’s 25 acres of prime lakefront real estate and the more we looked at it, again we do not think that is the highest and best use.”
Their belief is a stadium cannot be the center of the long-debated lakefront development.
“We understand emotion and history to us being on the lake and we believe in the downtown lakefront, but the more we looked at it the more we realized that is a short term solve that kicks the can,” Tywang said. “It’s a 15 to 20 year solve without a solve for capital repairs. This is a 50 plus year solution.”
The team’s lease at the city-owned stadium is up after the 2028 season.
Cleveland city leaders have continuously talked about the economic impact the team has being in downtown.
In the decades long debate over the best use of the waterfront, there has never been a plan without the Browns stadium at the focal point.
Despite the Browns comments in Columbus this week, city council is not backing down.
Councilman Kerry McCormack’s ward is home to the current Browns stadium.
“I look forward to both a beautifully redeveloped lakefront, as well as a beautifully renovated Cleveland Browns Stadium in Downtown Cleveland on Lake Erie,” McCormack said. “They both compliment each other and can happen together.”
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