The Haslam Sports Group (HSG), the owners of the Cleveland Browns, announced a $100 million agreement with the City of Cleveland that ends the city’s efforts to block the football team’s relocation to a new stadium in suburban Brook Park.
Under the terms of the agreement, HSG will pay the city $25 million by Dec. 1 and will spend $30 million to raze the team’s current Huntington Bank Field in downtown Cleveland to a pad ready state. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2029, the team will pay the city $5 million on or before New Year’s Day of each calendar year until 2033, totaling $25 million over five years.
Furthermore, after the termination of the lease at its current venue, HSG to invest no less than $2 million per year over the next 10 years on a mutually agreed Community Benefit Projects totaling no less than $20 million. The agreement also has the team and city working together in “mutually support infrastructure plans related to road and air travel with respect to both the Brook Park stadium mixed-use project, the modernization of Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport, the development of the Cleveland lakefront, including the redevelopment of the Burke Lakefront Airport property.”
All lawsuits filed in connection with the team’s relocation will be dismissed with prejudice.
HSG Principal Partners Dee and Jimmy Haslam issued a joint statement that said, “We will always be the Cleveland Browns, and this agreement reflects a continued commitment by the Haslam/Johnson family to strategically invest in City of Cleveland community programs, building on the family’s consistent charitable giving across the region since taking leadership of the Cleveland Browns in 2013.”
Mayor Justin Bibb added, “This Agreement puts the lakefront on the path to transformational development and the Browns on the path to a world-class facility in Brook Park. This is the right solution for the city and the region. Cleveland’s time is now. We are a city that leads the region, that’s open for business, and that knows how to get big things done.”
