Dawgs By Nature
Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam have a clear vision for the franchise’s future.
Build a domed stadium with a surrounding entertainment district in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park, play out the team’s existing lease at Huntington Bank Field, pack up and move to the new stadium in 2029, start cashing the checks.
It all sounded so simple, until potholes on the road to riches started popping up. (And it’s Cleveland, everyone knows there are going to be potholes.)
Pushback from the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County officials, and lawsuits over the move and the state’s funding plan have been part of the problem. Last week, news came that the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation denied the team’s building permit for the stadium because it would extend into the air navigation zone of neighboring Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
Now comes the latest issue, which involves parking.
The initial plan calls for 12,000 parking spaces, but according to News 5 Cleveland, consultants working on the project believe that will result in a shortage of 10,000 parking spots on game days.
But never fear, Browns fans, the consultants have a solution!
Once the parking spaces are full, fans should just park wherever they can around the area. Suggestions include the trucking companies and restaurants near the site, along with the Adult Megastore and the Crazy Horse strip club on Brookpark Road.
And here everyone was worried that the fans in the Muni Lot would not have somewhere fun to go for their tailgating at the new stadium!
Team officials are also floating the idea of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority adding a Rapid train station to the west of the stadium. RTA officials are not keen on that idea, according to News 5 Cleveland, as Mike Schipper, RTA’s deputy general manager of engineering and project management, made clear:
“… we (have) been very, very, very clear – there is not one dime of RTA money going to whatever that rendering is. Our official position at RTA is that the distance from the Brookpark Road station to the football site is 3,000 feet, and it is comparable to the walking distance from Tower City to the existing stadium. … If someone wants to explore something else and we’re not paying anything for it, we are collaborating in that. But it is not gonna be an RTA project. And we’re not putting any money in it.”
All kidding aside, this is another one of those issues, like the one with the airport, that could have been avoided. This isn’t a mom-and-pop shop trying to figure things out, but an NFL franchise worth an estimated $6.14 billion.
But it is also a $2.4 billion project we’re talking about, so it still seems more likely than not that everything will be worked out one way or another.
Which means the Crazy Horse has three-plus years to prepare for those pre- and post-game crowds on game days!
