Berea, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – On Dec. 31, 2017 Browns owner Jimmy Haslam stood outside the locker room at Heinz Field to accept the responsibility for the franchise suffering the indignity of an 0-16 season.
It cemented the team’s legacy of having gone through the worst three-year stretch of football in modern NFL history – 4 wins, 44 losses from 2015-2017.
19 months later Haslam stood with his wife and co-owner of the Browns, Dee Haslam, in the Casey Coleman Fieldhouse in advance of what many hope to be the most exciting and successful season for the franchise in 30 years.
“Clearly, it looks like we have put together a good team, but right now, everybody is focused on getting better today,” Jimmy Haslam said, echoing the words of his first-year head coach Freddie Kitchens.
Don’t get it twisted, the Haslams feel the same excitement as their fans do, but they don’t want to place any additional pressure and the team and coaching staff.
“It is fun,” Jimmy Haslam said. “We are excited for the organization, the players, the coaches, the personnel, ourselves and everybody who puts in the time and hard work but we are most excited – you know the area as well or better than we do – for the fans because these are the greatest sports fans I have ever been around. They deserve to have a really good football team.”
Since being hired in Dec. 2017, general manager John Dorsey gutted the roster, made a multitude of trades including for Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham Jr. and Olivier Vernon while drafting Baker Mayfield, Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams just to name a few headliners.
On paper the franchise has risen from the ashes and gone from the league’s outhouse to the penthouse when it comes to talent.
Fans have adopted the motto ‘In Dorsey We Trust,’ and the Haslams have too.
“John has a track record of putting together good teams, but as John will quickly say, we haven’t done anything yet. We have to prove it on the field,” Jimmy Haslam said.
For the first time since buying the team for nearly $1 billion, the Haslams appear to have found some stability after having to replace four head coaches, four GMs, a pair of team presidents and a CEO since 2012.
“I think we have learned a lot as we have gone along,” Jimmy Haslam said. “It has been painful, but I think we have really good people in our organization that we feel really comfortable with.”
What specifically did they learn?
“Get the right people in the right place – and to get a quarterback,” Jimmy Haslam said, drawing laughter from reporters.
A primary reason the light at the end of the tunnel finally appeared was Dorsey’s selection of Mayfield with the top pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
“We have not only a really good quarterback; he is also a really good leader who loves the football,” Jimmy Haslam said. “We were fortunate to have the first pick that year, and John and his team made a great pick in Baker. Obviously, he is going to be a part of our franchise for a long time to come.”
Hopes were already high after a 7-8-1 finish in 2018 that saw the Browns alive for a playoff berth until Week 16, but the acquisition of Beckham pushed expectations to another level.
It also returned the Browns’ brand to an international stage.
“There is just a lot of excitement around all of our team,” Dee Haslam said. “Obviously, he has brought a lot of excitement here. The fans are really excited about him and it is national exposure, but I think in general, our fans are really excited about the whole team.”
The Haslams spoke for nearly 20 minutes Sunday covering a wide range of topics in what is likely their only speaking appearance of the season.
The team is in the process of finalizing a 10-year lease extension with the city of Berea through 2039.
“We are committed to this facility and to (the City of) Berea,” Jimmy Haslam said. “They have been great partners to work with. We are continuing to look to do two things with this building: make it better for our players and make it better for our fans. The turnouts we have had [for training camp] have been very impressive.”
Developing the area around FirstEnergy Stadium and finding a way to better connect it to downtown Cleveland also remains a priority and something they continue to explore with the city of Cleveland.
“We are working on it. There has been some progress made, but there are a lot of people involved in the process,” Dee Haslam said. “We are primarily focused on the south and making that connection to the stadium because the parking is downtown, and you want to be able to access the waterfront and access our stadium. We are putting a lot of focus on that.
“I think we are making progress. It is not fast, but we are doing it as fast as we can. We are excited about it. We are just going to have to keep working at it.”
Tailgating is a lifelong tradition and the treck from the Muni lot to the stadium usually means a bottleneck at the gates before kickoff. Even with previous gate modifications that were made during the recent $125 million renovation, they get packed, creating late arriving crowds.
The team has been working on ways to reduce the stress, but they hope fans can help too.
“We are doing everything we can by expanding the gates so we have a bigger footprint there,” Dee Haslam said. “It is critical that our fans get there early this year. We are sold out. We are going to have a lot of people. If we can get the fans there earlier, it is great for our players who see the fans there in the stadium early; and just getting into the stadium will be much easier if they come early. We would really appreciate it.”
“It is really important the fans come early for their convenience, and it helps,” Jimmy Haslam added. “We need 68,000 people there at 1 p.m., not at 1:20 p.m.”
Sunday was the first time since the 2021 NFL Draft was awarded to Cleveland in the spring that the Haslams had the opportunity to speak about landing what has become a three-day festival.
“The draft is really more about the city,” Jimmy Haslam said. “You all know and appreciate the sports fans in this area, and you also know what a big deal the draft is. We are very excited for the City of Cleveland and really all of Northeast Ohio because this is an event you can drive to. You can drive four or five hours and there are a lot of pro football fans – I forget how many franchises are within 300-400 miles of here. We think we will have a great turnout, and we think it will be great for the fans of Northeast Ohio.”
“It is a great opportunity to showcase Cleveland, what a great place it is and all of Northeast Ohio,” Dee Haslam added. “We are really, really excited about the draft.”
