$100M Browns Stadium Settlement Still Faces Cleveland City Hurdles

The Browns’ $100 million settlement deal with the city of Cleveland, struck two weeks ago, was designed to end years of political and legal friction, but the resolution is not yet final—providing yet another wrinkle on the team’s long-running stadium saga.

The city council, which must approve the deal, is pushing for potential improvements, and more political wrangling is expected in the next several weeks. Cleveland’s planning commission approved the pact Friday by a 5–1 margin, but that was an expected prelude before an upcoming council vote. 

“You have laid with the dogs, and now you have fleas,” council member Brian Kazy said earlier this month regarding Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb.

Bibb, however, said the pact represents the final offer from Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam.

“At this stage, the deal is the current deal,” Bibb said. “[The Haslams] have not indicated that they’re open to material changes.”

Furthering that, city of Cleveland senior advisor Jessica Trivisonno told the planning commission that the Browns deal “is not an à-la-carte solution, where we get to pick and choose pieces we want to approve or disapprove.”

The settlement is designed to pave the way for the $2.4 billion domed stadium and mixed-use development to be built in suburban Brook Park, Ohio. The planned facility, near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, has been beset with a lengthy series of political and legal obstacles, but a groundbreaking is planned for early next year. The Browns intend to open the new stadium in 2029. 

There is also an immediate timing element at play, as the first obligation in the settlement deal is on Dec. 1, when the Haslams will pay the city $25 million in the first and largest chunk of a series of planned payments.