CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – If approved, the State of Ohio could significantly reduce the Cleveland Browns’ ask for public funds from Cuyahoga County and the city of Brook Park for their proposed $3.4 billion dome and development.
Last week Ohio governor Mike DeWine proposed increasing the state’s sports gaming tax to help pay for stadium projects across Ohio.
On Wednesday we got to see what DeWine’s plan looks like on paper as the state released the first draft of the proposed budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year that will be debated and edited in the Ohio House and Senate over the coming weeks and months before the final budget goes to DeWine’s desk this summer.
DeWine proposed doubling the sports gaming tax from 20 to 40% with the additional 20% of revenue, which is estimated to generate $130-180 million per year, to be directed to a new “sports facilities construction and sports education fund.”
The Ohio facilities construction commission would administer the new fund.
This fund would be available to stadium projects for the National Football League (Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals), National Basketball Association (Cleveland Cavaliers), Major League Baseball (Cleveland Guardians and Cincinnati Reds), National Hockey League (Columbus Blue Jackets), Major League Soccer (Columbus Crew), Women’s National Football Conference, Women’s Football Alliance, Women’s Football League Association, Professional Women’s Hockey League, Women’s Professional Baseball League, and Women’s National Basketball Association.
Terms for major league teams to receive stadium funding are as follows:
1. A team agrees to play at least 30 years at the facility upon “completion of construction or renovation of the sports facility.”
2. Excluding site acquisition costs, initial estimated construction costs for a new facility exceeds $1 billion and the estimated renovation cost exceeds $100 million.
3. At least 60% of the project cost has been “secured from sources other than state funds.”
The Browns have proposed building a $2.4 billion dome with the team covering 50% of that cost and the other $1.2 billion coming from public sources at the state, county, and city level.
Under this state budget proposal, the Browns could apply for the state to cover 40% of the cost, or $960 million, which would significantly reduce the ask for Cuyahoga County and Brook Park from a combined $600 million to $240 million.
But it gets even better for the county and Brook Park.
The proposed legislation within the budget also calls for funds to be available for mixed-use developments provided they are included in the construction of a major sports facility and has secured funding for 60% of the cost, not including state funds. The development must include “some combination of retail, office, hotel, residential, recreation, structured parking, or other similar uses into one or more mixed-use developments.”
This clause directly reflects and is applicable to the Haslam Sports Group’s proposed Brook Park project, which the group has already pledged to cover 100% of the cost of the estimated $1 billion price tag.
Securing up to $400 million in state funding, or 40%, for the mixed-use development could allow the Browns to shift that money towards the dome’s cost, thus lowering or even eliminating the ask from the county and city of Brook Park.
Other qualifying factors for mixed-use funding under this plan include projects that are “located on parcels of property that are noncontiguous with the primary site of the major sports facility mixed-use project” and is within a 10-mile radius of the major sports facility. Mixed-use projects adjacent to practice facilities for professional franchises, like the Browns planned $210 million ‘District 46,’ could also qualify for state funding.
Minor league teams could receive funding if the team agrees to a 15-year term at the facility, new stadium construction cost outside of site acquisition costs exceed $50 million or a renovation exceeds $10 million. The 60% external funding rule also applies.
The legislation also outlines provisions for youth sports education funding.
The youth sports education component “means programs, instruction, or facilities that are primarily designed for use by Ohio students and that seek to encourage, teach, or enable lifelong health, physical readiness, and sports knowledge, including programs in public and chartered nonpublic schools and programs administered by nonprofit organizations that encourage outdoor physical activity and education, as approved by the advisory committee. However, ‘youth sports education’ does not include the use of funds to construct public school facilities.”
A seven-member ‘Ohio advisory committee for sports facility construction and youth sports education’ would be created and consist of an executive director, who will serve as the chair, plus two members appointed by the governor, one member appointed by the speaker of the house and another by the minority leader of the house, one member appointed by the president of the senate and another appointed by the minority leader of the senate.
Members of the committee may not “have any financial interest in, contract with, represent, advise, or be employed by any professional sports franchise or professional sports league within one year before appointment, during the time of appointment, or for two years after appointment, and shall file a disclosure statement with the Ohio ethics commission, or with the joint legislative ethics committee in the case of the members appointed by members of the general assembly.”
Committee members will be permitted to purchase tickets from teams for games and events as long as they pay the same price available to the general public.
All stadium projects youth programs supported by the fund would need to be evaluated and approved by a “majority vote of the committee.”
Now the legislative fight begins.