The following article was published as part of an exclusive content partnership with neo-trans.blog.
The Haslam Sports Group, owners of the Cleveland Browns football team and stadium development company Primacy Development LLC, released findings yesterday from a study saying their proposed stadium in suburban Brook Park would benefit all of Cuyahoga County, including Downtown Cleveland. But county officials say they want the Browns to continue playing Downtown and aren’t buying the study’s findings.
The study was conducted by RCLCO, a Los Angeles-based real estate consulting company founded as Robert Charles Lesser & Co. in 1967. The findings describe how a $2.4 billion Cleveland Browns domed stadium and up to $1.2 billion in adjacent mixed-use development totaling 2 million square feet in Brook Park could serve as a catalyst for growth in Cuyahoga County, generating more than $1 billion in new benefits to the region per year.
To fund the stadium project, owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam are seeking half of the money from the public sector, some of which would come from taxes generated by stadium activities itself including payroll taxes on employees, admissions taxes and other taxes. It also depends on substantial funding from the county, including tapping the countywide sin tax and state contributions.
In order to make the case to elected officials to secure those revenue sources, the Haslams need to show that the public benefits will out the costs to the public. To that end, they say the new covered stadium could attract another 1.5 million visitors per year with year-round programming.
“We really look at this site as complementary in the broader landscape of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, overall,” Managing Director of RCLCO Erin Talkington said in a written statement. “Most regions, including others in the Midwest, have multiple venues that host events and today those types of events aren’t coming to Cleveland.”
“So, this is really an opportunity not just for this particular site to have more activity, but for the region to capture economic activity that’s been leaving and to bring in visitor spending that’s not coming here today,” Talkington added.
Despite the data in the study, which is available here in a PDF file, Cuyahoga County officials told NEOtrans that economic impact studies commissioned by organizations with a vested interest often present overly optimistic projections that do not reflect the financial realities faced by local governments and taxpayers.
“Haslam Sports Group has not shared its economic impact study with us,” said Kelly Woodard, director of communications for Cuyahoga County. “We don’t want to engage in a game of political football, but a biased report attempting to justify an unprecedented sum of taxpayer money for a new stadium does not change our position, and we’re going to have to throw a flag on the play.”
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb has said the city already offered its $461 million financial incentive package, which would help fund a $1.2 billion renovation of the existing, city-owned, 1999-built stadium on the downtown lakefront. He said the city could lose up to $11 million per year in lost hospitality business from Browns games moving to Brook Park.
Bibb also said he is also willing to close its Burke Lakefront Airport for a stadium and supportive redevelopment. But the Haslams have expressed concern that this would probably take too long and be even more expensive than developing the Brook Park site.
Both Bibb and Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne have said that city and county residents remain their top priority, and they “want to ensure that any public participation benefits them, our communities, and the investments the public and private sector have already made,” Woodard explained.
“For the past 24 months, we have worked closely with RCLCO, a nationally renowned real estate consultancy, to help guide us with our future stadium planning process,” Haslam Sports Group Chief Operating Officer Dave Jenkins said in a statement.
“Their expertise analyzing job creation, event attraction, and office/retail needs in relation to sports venue-anchored real estate developments reinforced three primary conclusions, which underscore why a new Huntington Bank Field enclosed stadium in Brook Park will have a transformative impact on the Northeast Ohio region and Greater Cleveland,” Jenkins said.
In the study released yesterday via the Browns Web site, RCLCO identified three main key findings. The first key finding highlighted how the site is viable for mixed-use development in conjunction with a new domed stadium. RCLCO compared other sports-anchored projects around the country that have set the precedent for large-scale mixed-use developments.
Those examples included The Battery in Atlanta, Georgia (adjacent to the Braves ballpark), Titletown in Green Bay, Wisconsin (adjacent to the Packers stadium) and the Deer District in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (adjacent to the Milwaukee Bucks arena).
Over 40 percent of visitors to the three major non-Browns events at Huntington Bank Field in 2024 were outside of Ohio. At other large events similar to those that would be targeted for the new domed stadium, 65-75 percent of visitors would be out of market.
“The region should be really excited for this opportunity, and we recognize that it’s hard to envision today how one NFL venue can be different from another NFL venue when it’s just moving not that far down the road,” Talkington said.
“This has the potential to really change the economic impact for the region out of that venue based on the new visitors and the amount of new spending and events that occur and the visitors that can really come to the region from out of state today and the spending that Clevelanders are sending other places that we can retain,” she said.
The second key finding demonstrated how the stadium in Brook Park and the adjacent mixed-use development will generate positive economic impact for the region. RCLCO projected an annual direct economic output of $1.2 billion across Cuyahoga County, as well as create nearly 5,400 permanent jobs.
Of the $1.2 billion in annual economic output, $550 million is projected to come from the surrounding mixed-use development. Another $217 million is projected to occur at the stadium from major events and other non-NFL activities, showing significant economic impact to the region, the report claims.
Outside Cuyahoga County, the project is projected to generate $181 million in additional economic impact, which would support businesses and jobs in other communities around Ohio.
The third finding from RCLCO emphasized that while the Browns would relocate to Brook Park, the new domed stadium would also bring significant benefits to downtown Cleveland and the city of Cleveland as a whole. The increase of events would bring an uptick of visitors to Northeast Ohio – many of whom would come to stay and dine in downtown Cleveland.
Total annual spending at bars, restaurants and hotels downtown is projected to increase by about $11 million over what is generated today by the activity at Huntington Bank Field. The data suggests that 40 percent or more of visitors come from out of state, and the need for hospitality infrastructure for those games and events would spill into Downtown Cleveland.
“When we look at this type of domed facility and adjacent mixed-use development, this type of venue is really unique to the region and we expect that based on what we know about some of the concerts and other non-NFL events that have been hosted in the Browns’ Stadium today, that at least 40 percent of visitors are coming from out of state already,” Talkington said.
She said that trend is expected to continue. Talkington considered this as an opportunity to bring in spending to the region and bring in new visitors who will probably stay overnight and spend money locally.
Most of the visitors will not stay at hotels proposed next to the stadium because the number of hotels will be limited to about 400 or 500 rooms. In Cuyahoga County, the district having the most hotels and amenities within walking distance of those hotels is Downtown Cleveland.
“To accommodate the visitors that are coming here and their preferences, Downtown Cleveland is going to have to host a lot of these visitors,” she added. ” And when we look at the specific spending that’s happening today from NFL games downtown, as well as the future spending that might happen as spillover from games happening in Brook Park as well as those major events we’re talking about, we actually think downtown benefits to the tune of $10 to $12 million a year.”
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