CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Haslam Sports Group, owners and operators of the Cleveland Browns, are working on two major projects that could have significant economic impact on the region.
First is the stadium.
That’s the big one with the Browns lease at the lakefront stadium set to expire following the 2028 NFL season.
“Obviously we still have a handful more years down on the lake and we are looking at two paths,” Browns executive vice president and partner JW Johnson told 92.3 The Fan during an interview with Baskin and Phelps Wednesday morning. “The paths are a massive renovation [to] the stadium down by the lake where we currently are or potentially a new building. So we're doing everything we can to kind of see what works best. We've had great conversations with all the key stakeholders that will be involved and between the city, county, state, et cetera.
“We're going to do whatever we can to bring a long-term solution to us as an organization and to our fans and candidly to the state of Ohio. So we're going down a couple paths and we'll see what happens.”
Renovating Cleveland Browns Stadium will cost between $1-1.2 billion with the team proposing a 50-50 public private split but sources have told 92.3 The Fan those talks haven’t born much fruit.
The Haslam Sports Group has secured a purchase agreement for 176 acres of land in Brook Park. The land, located south of I-480, west of I-71 and east of State Route 237 and the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks, could be used to build a new state of the art domed stadium for the team.
The proximity to two interstate highways, the airport plus an RTA line that runs to the airport makes it a very attractive regional site to build on.
In recent years, the Haslams have also been acquiring acres of land next to their training facility in Berea as they explore a massive mixed-use development that could include a rec center, dorms, hotel, University Hospitals facility, community field and some retail space.
“We have acquired some land here around the building looking to do some expansions with our friends at University Hospital to do something with them. We've also talked to our friends at Baldwin Wallace about doing some student housing as well as a large potential community field here,” Johnson said. “So still things to be worked through, but we're looking at developing the area here that can help the city of Berea out as well.”
They’re also doing more work to their main building by expanding it once again, this time to accommodate a new weight room for players, who have given the team a D and D+ for the weight training facilities in surveys conducted by the NFLPA.
“We're actually in the process currently and we'll have this ready to go by training camp, we're putting in brand new weight room and training facility for the guys which will just kind of be off of the back of the field house,” Johnson said. “During Covid, we had to move the current weight room into the field house and we finally came to the conclusion that we need to do something to make a change here and provide our guys with the best possible place to train and so that that's happening currently.”
One item that has been discussed at length over the years is expanding the Casey Coleman Field House, but after investing millions in a new heating and drainage system for the front two practice fields, that is off the table for the foreseeable future.
“I think we don't like to really get in there if we don't have to,” Johnson said. “If the weather's a problem, then we are an outdoor team and we want to play out on grass and I think it's good for us to do that. We're happy with it now. Currently coach [Kevin Stefanski] seems to be happy with it. If we ever came to a situation where we had to expand it, we would look at those options, but I think we can get away and get our work in with what we have currently.”
