Last month, the Cleveland Browns announced their decision to build a new domed stadium in Brook Park, signaling the end of negotiations with the city of Cleveland to continue using the existing downtown facility.
It’s a move that could be costly for the city, according to Mayor Justin Bibb.
A new report from Signal Cleveland shared the estimated cost a study commissioned by the city believes will be lost when the Browns move from their downtown stadium.
“A departure of the NFL franchise to the suburbs could cost Cleveland $30 million in annual business activity and $11 million in tax revenue, the report said,” Nick Castele wrote, adding, “The 36-page report argues that a team relocation would compete with other venues and hamper downtown Cleveland’s recovery from the pandemic.”
Castele noted that the items this figure is attached to include transportation, dining out, retail shopping, and lodging for football-related events.
Cleveland’s downtown area would be impacted as a new facility would attract other events that would no longer choose the lakefront stadium as its venue, further hampering potential revenue streams for the businesses in the city.
The move will end their three-decade relationship with the current facility, one that was built after the original Browns franchise packed up and moved to Baltimore in 1995 after the season.
Cleveland erected the new stadium as a condition to receive a new franchise, and the Browns were reborn in 1999.
The purported price to build a new stadium in Brook Park would be $2.4 billion.
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