CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – A proposal that Cleveland City Council is considering would significantly raise parking prices in downtown Cleveland for special events, including Browns games, has not been met well among fans this week.
Council President Blaine Griffin joined Anthony Lima and Jason Lloyd Thursday morning on 92.3 The Fan where he explained where that proposal originated.
“We did not initiate that. That was something that the administration initiated,” Griffin said. “The administration put forth a proposal and council will now deliberate. We like to hear from all sides. Of course, we very much want to make sure that the fan experience isn’t burdensome in the city of Cleveland, but we also know that we have to bring in revenue to pay our bills.”
The city also wants to replace the parking meters downtown with smart meters that can use an app and credit/debit cards for payment.
“We are going to look at the proposal that the administration has sent,” Griffin said. “I know that it’s a very ambitious proposal because we also want to update and upgrade our city to be a smart city and have smart meters and smart parking and other things so people don't have to always walk around with big bags of quarters. So there's a lot of things that we are trying to do, but it takes money in order to run it and it takes a revenue source and I think that we may need to look at a revenue source, but I am not fully committed all the way to the $70 [Muni lot rate proposal] until I have a conversation with the administration and we deliberate with our body.”
Under the proposal, parking rates at lots and garages would be permitted to increase up to $60 per space and the Muni lot would be permitted to charged up to $70.
“When you go to some of these other cities, Indianapolis and other places, you’d almost have sticker shock,” Griffin said. “We’ve gotten away cheap in the city of Cleveland, and we’ve got to start making sure we invest in the value that we really represent in our city. But once again, we don't want to be burdensome. We just want to make sure that we put the money that we need away to take care of the services that we need to have. And let's face it, Muni lot is a pretty rowdy place on a Sunday afternoon. So the amount that you need to pay in security cleanup and everything else is a pretty hefty cost and people need to think about that as well.”
The Browns are also nearing an inflexion point when it comes to their future in Cleveland with their lease set to expire following the 2028 season.
Cleveland Browns Stadium, which opened in 1999 and received a $125 million facelift from 2014-15, is obsolete in comparison to venues that have opened or will open around the NFL.
“Everybody does want to see the Browns stay here and remain here,” Griffin said. “But once again, the devil’s in the details. One of the things that I don't do, I don’t say what sources of money we will and won’t use and where we will and won't do things, and the reason why is because I'm very careful not to negotiate in public.”
The Haslam Sports Group, which has owned and operated the team since October 2012, put forth an ambitious lakefront development proposal in May 2021 that included a land bridge to connect downtown to north coast harbor including the stadium, Great Lakes Science Center as well as Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is about to embark on a $100 million expansion.
At the heart of the Haslam’s proposal – the Browns staying on the lakefront, which some believe isn’t the best idea when it comes to the city planning for the future.
“I didn't think it was the best location back in 1999 or 2000 when it first came,” Griffin said. “I thought that we should have looked at some places in cluster developed where Gateway [is] with Rocket Mortgage [FieldHouse] and Progressive Field, and I would've loved to seen everything clustered in that whole area. Places that have done that, in cities that have done that kind of cluster development have been very successful.”
In the upcoming state budget, Ohio is set to contribute $62 million towards the “Cleveland Municipal Land Bridge” project. The bill is currently in committee in the Ohio Senate and if approved and passed, Ohio governor Mike DeWine is expected to sign it. Funds could be available by July 1.
The team continues to have conversations with city officials about the future of the stadium and the current plan they are pursuing is a significant overhaul that could cost close to $1 billion. To add a roof to the existing stadium would double that cost and the price tag has caused the Browns to pretty much rule that out.
Building a new open-air stadium is estimated to cost around $2 billion. Building a dome could range between $2.5-$2.75 billion. A retractable roof stadium could cost upwards of $3.5 billion.
Griffin indicated the city is preparing for the possibility for a new stadium and potential locations in addition to weighing the renovation plans.
“[There’s] places to put it,” Griffin said. “You would have to do some demolition, you would have to do some site acquisition, which is one of the reasons why we are entertaining the proposal that the administration has put forth to have a site acquisition fund because we’re going to have to demolish and get site control for a lot of places that this would have the potential to go and that would take time and probably more money, which may be an impediment to moving to some of those locations.
“There's no place, and that's where some of these suburban and outskirts have a little bit of an advantage on us because there's no place in the city of Cleveland where you have adjacent clean parcels of that size that are just readily available. If that was the case, we may have intel by now, so anywhere we go, we're going to have to do site acquisition.”
Those are eye popping numbers, even for Browns ownership, which just invested an estimated $800-plus million in a 25 percent share of the Milwaukee Bucks.
“We really need to think and look at what kind of regional and state resources we are going to have,” Griffin said. “The city of Cleveland proper isn't the only one that enjoys this venue. So we want to make sure that sometimes the fees or other things that people may have to pay to be commensurate with the cost of building or renovating or whatever we do with this new stadium. But once again, we just have to look at several tools. I think Columbus did a very good job with their soccer stadium and we're looking at some of the same things.”
How to pay for the renovation is now the $1 billion question.
“I've seen several different models. I've seen a 50 50 model, I've seen a 60 40 model,” Griffin said. “I think Columbus might even be even more where the owner paid more into it. I think that the Guardians did a pretty decent job of putting skin in the game, which made it a lot easier for us to push and support when they looked for their renovation. Even though the city put in money, the county put in money, but the ownership put in several millions of dollars as well. So we're going to be looking at all of those things”
The city and county will contribute a combined $17 million annually, the state of Ohio will contribute $2 million annually and the Guardians will contribute $10 million annually to fund the $435 million project to modernize Progressive Field over the next 15 years.
Griffin noted that it is early in the process when it comes to the Browns stadium situation and there is nothing close to being remotely definitive.
Griffin aims to pursue an agreement that would also provide opportunity to local construction companies and workers and would enable the stadium to expand its calendar of major events beyond the current 10-15 dates.
“I’ve always wanted it to be a convention style center so that we could actually use it more than eight times a year, and I think the Browns have done a good job of trying to program it more than eight times a year,” Griffin said. “I will tell you one of the things that I really think we have to be creative on, because let’s be clear, the city still does own the stadium, we have to retrofit it if it stays there. Once again, if it stays there and that’s where the decision is, then we have to retrofit the stadium to make sure that it operates year-round so that people are utilizing it more and that it brings in more revenue for the city.”
