On Wednesday, in a letter to their fans as well as through a barrage of images shared on social media, the Cleveland Browns unveiled their vision of what the franchise’s future home could look like.
The Browns are hoping to build a state of the art, new domed stadium that would cost roughly $2.4 billion to construct. The team is also keeping a $1 million renovation of its current stadium — Cleveland Browns Stadium — as an option, but it’s clear the Browns would prefer to build a new stadium in Brook Park.
We need to be bold, we need to be innovative, and we need to take advantage of this unique moment to create a transformational project not only for our fans, but for Cleveland, the Northeast Ohio region and the State of Ohio,” Dave Jenkins of the Haslam Sports Group wrote in the letter penned to Browns fans.
As Jenkins alluded to, a new domed stadium would open the door for various opportunities for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. It would open the door for the state’s first Super Bowl, among other things.
“This would be more than just a stadium project; it would also include a private development that when combined with the world-class dome stadium will be transformative for our region,” Jenkins wrote.
While the letter was informative, it did not include a detailed financing plan as they are asking for the general public to pay half of the costs for a new stadium. Financial details regarding a possible $1 billion renovation of the team’s current stadium are also unknown.
When asked about their decision not to share the renovation renderings, a Browns spokesman told Cleveland.com that “fans already understand how the current stadium fits into the lakefront with the city’s master plan, but we felt they needed to see what the dome vision in Brook Park would look like.”
Cleveland’s rollout of the new domed stadium comes shortly after Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb went public on his offer, which would have the city taxpayers pay for less than half of the renovation. In Wednesday’s letter, however, the Browns voiced concerns about choosing a renovation over a new stadium.
The lakefront site also has significant operational limitations for a building of our size, and requires major infrastructure moves to improve our operational and fan experience challenges,” Jenkins wrote. “We have invested heavily in exploring this path and remain engaged with the City of Cleveland regarding a potential renovation plan, but it remains a complex and challenging proposition.”
