CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns have big plans for their training and administrative complex in Berea and now the team has a way to cover some of the cost of the future expansion.
Thursday morning, the team announced a naming rights agreement with Cleveland-based national mortgage lender CrossCountry Mortgage to rename the facility the “CrossCountry Mortgage Campus.”
The naming rights agreement, a first for the franchise since the building opened in 1991, also includes additional multimedia advertising and community engagement opportunities with the team.
The inclusion of ‘campus’ in the new facility name opens a window into what the Browns may be preparing to create at 76 Lou Groza Blvd.
The Haslam Sports Group, which owns and operates the Browns as well as Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer, has been acquiring properties adjacent to the complex over the past few years and recently cleared those lots to make way for future expansion.
What they will ultimately build on the expanded footprint remains in the planning stages and on drawing tables.
The team has explored expanding the Casey Coleman Fieldhouse, which was the NFL’s first indoor practice facility.
The fieldhouse received a makeover that included fresh paint and new field turf last year but has grown out of date with it only able to house a 70-yard field. It is landlocked by the practice fields and player’s lot, but the property acquisition could clear the way for expansion and or new construction.
In 2013 the team agreed to a 17-year, $102 million stadium naming rights deal with FirstEnergy. A year later the Browns, with a $30 million commitment from the city of Cleveland over 15 years, embarked on a $120 million makeover of the lakefront building which opened in 1999.
The Haslam Sports Group continues to work with the city of Cleveland in the hopes of connecting the stadium to downtown via a land bridge that would spur additional lakefront development. They unveiled artist renderings of their vision for the development in May.
On Wednesday, the Ohio Department of Transportation awarded $2.5 million towards continued planning and engineering work for the proposed project that is estimated to cost $229 million according to the application submitted to the Transportation Review Advisory Council or TRAC.
