Lots of reports this morning that the Cleveland Browns owners are looking to build a new stadium rather than renovate their old one, along with getting “supportive development” around it, which presumably would mean some kind of mixed-use district with shops or maybe a hotel. All of these articles point back to one article on the transportation blog NEOtrans, which says:
The Haslam’s stadium consultant, HKS Architects (which also designed the Minneapolis Vikings’ $1 billion, enclosed US Bank Stadium built in 2016) completed its feasibility study of renovating FirstEnergy Stadium earlier this month. The study has not been publicly released but reportedly is informational, providing structural assessments of the facility and options for improving it. People familiar with FirstEnergy Stadium said it was quickly and poorly built and may not be affordably retrofitted with upgrades like a wider concourses or a roof, be it retractable or fixed.
If this all sounds familiar, it’s because NEOtrans proprietor Ken Prendergast reported the exact same thing last June. That story was based on two unnamed sources “close to” the team; this one is based on one “City Hall source,” one “team source,” and one source “familiar with the conversations” between the two. On the record, a Browns spokesperson called the report “simply false” and said, “All of our work over the past year has been focused on the renovation of FirstEnergy Stadium.”
While it’s entirely possible that Prendergast is extremely good at cultivating his own personal collection of Deep Throats, all of this does raise issues around the pitfalls of reporting that’s based entirely on anonymous sources. When people can issue statements without being named, they can say anything they want for any reason — and people, you may be shocked to learn, often leak things to reporters not because these things are true but because they want to plant stories in the media. And when readers don’t know who’s making these statements, it’s impossible for them to judge how reliable the statements are: A “City Hall source” who’s a highly placed member of the mayor’s staff is one thing; a “City Hall source” who happened to be walking through the building and overheard a snatch of conversation is another.
So we’re left with two possibilities: Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is secretly plotting to get a new stadium built to replace his 24-year-old one, or somebody wants you to think he is. Possible reasons for leaking either real or phony news run the gamut from “heard a thing and can’t wait to tell somebody” to “trial balloon to see if a plan will fly with the public” to “hoping that floating a billion-dollar new stadium will provide enough anchoring to soften the blow for half a billion in renovation requests”; there’s no way to begin to guess which is the case here.
Meanwhile, there’s also no word on how much a new building would cost (Prendergast previously said “in excess of $1 billion,” citing more unnamed sources, though that’s a given for any modern football stadium with a roof) or how much renovations would cost (that bit about the existing stadium being “poorly built” is linked to a News 5 Cleveland story from last June that cited “Sean Walsh, who took part in the original construction process,” who turns out to be a stadium seat collector and retired construction worker) or, of course, who would pay for any of this. All we really know is that Haslam wants a new stadium that will make him more money at a time when he just dropped $1.75 billion on half-ownership $775 million on quarter-ownership of the Milwaukee Bucks. Sources close to urban politics say that clearly this is a problem for City Hall to solve, because you can’t expect billionaires to just stay in the stadiums the public built for them for three whole decades, can you now?
Correction: Haslam is buying Lasry’s 25% stake in the Bucks for $875 million.
That’s what I saw, can’t remember where. Values the whole franchise at 3.5 billion. Nice profit in 8 years…..
Thanks, fixed. Weirdly, until now Edens and Lasry have always been described as Bucks co-owners, but I guess one was more co- than the other…
1) The Browns denying something doesn’t mean anything. While all sports owners lie Haslam is the biggest liar I have seen.
2) The current stadium is awful. Not that its a physically unsafe to be in there. Just everything about it is terrible. They basically took the same design as Tennessee and Baltimore and dropped it into Cleveland. The problem is the stadium in Cleveland is surrounded by the Lake on 3 sides so the wind cuts through and during the winter its a nightmare. The concourses are cramped. Its not well connected to downtown so its a pain to walk to (West 3rd and East 9th streets are wind tunnels so again walking there in the winter sucks).
If only there had been some prior evidence that putting a stadium in that location would be problematic…. I mean, how could Cleveland Pols or team officials ever have known that these things might be issues…
Cleveland pols are amongst the dumbest in America. I was very active in local politics when I lived there.
Wow, the same geniuses that put an open stadium on Chicago’s lakefront. The Bears and Browns approved these idiotic designs just 20 years ago. With NFL franchise values hovering around $5 billion they can afford their own dome that they were too retarded to figure would be required unless fans bundle up for a North Pole expedition. It’s also time to use car rental taxes to fix roads and hotel taxes to fund school meals and homeless shelters instead of lining billionaires pockets.
People familiar with me say I’m “structurally unsound” but I’m still waiting for proof. People can say whatever they want…..
If someone is willing to give you $1bn in taxpayer funding to remedy your alleged structural issues, I wouldn’t wait until you have proof to accept the cheque, Jorge.
The “cold winds off the lake” takes are misleading. That’s a springtime issue. During the early winter (football season), the lakefront is warmer than the surrounding area.
I’ve sat in the west end zone of that stadium for well over 100 games. In December it sucks in there. There were times I couldn’t give my extra seat away. Derek Anderson said it was the windiest stadium he has ever played in. When this stadium is imploded no one will miss it.
“[A]ll of this does raise issues around the pitfalls of reporting that’s based entirely on anonymous sources.”
Someone get Seymour Hersh on the phone.
It’s been a while since I read any Sy Hersh, but my recollection is he was a lot more selective about when he used anonymous sources. He certainly was more aware that they could try to use anonymity as a shield to plant stories.
I just pulled “The Price of Power” off my shelf, and it has an entire appendix citing sources by name.
(I also only just noticed that Hersh’s initials are “SMH,” which is perfect.)
His “Biden blew up Nordstream” article is based on one unnamed source.
Yeah, that blows.
Failure to develop the area around a stadium is the stupidest reason to build a new stadium, but I guess there’s a sucker born every day.
Failure to develop, should be Cleveland’s slogan. Part of the problem is that the lakefront is cut off from downtown by a bluff and an elevated highway. Then you have a stupid private airport that not only takes up 450 acres of what should be prime space but restricts what can be built around it. The problem is the airport is hardly used and most of the use that does exist is for flight schools, which does not need to happen downtown.
Get Richard M Daley to run for mayor of Cleveland and he’ll carve big Xs in the runways and turn it into a park like he did in Chicago.
Especially when that stadium is, as noted by another poster above, ‘surrounded by the lake on three sides’.
Was the stadium supposed to be a catalyst for developing the great lake itself?
But putting a hockey arena a half mile west of Tempe Town Lake will spur billions in economic development. Tempe is the new mistake by the lake.
Not exactly. In 1994 Art Modell said he just wanted the old stadium refurbished. In the Fall of 1995 there was a ballot issue to put $175 million towards renovating it. Just before that Art announced he was moving to Baltimore. The city made a deal to get a new team with the same name as long as they built a stadium. The timeline was very compressed so they didn’t do proper due diligence on other sites around downtown. If they had been smart they would have started earlier and done a dome stadium/convention center complex instead of spending $300 million on a stadium, $465 million on a convention center, and then another $200+ million on a hotel attached to the convention center that was added on later. You could have done a lot better job for a lot less.
I am absolutely familiar with the Modell history and the Browns decampment to Baltimore.
None of that excuses or explains the failure of everyone involved to make better decisions.
I agree the stadium should not have been built in that spot. Lakefront land rarely works for large sporting facilities. Cleveland should know that better than anyone. They didn’t have to rush and they didn’t have to use the same site. Total failure of leadership.
Also, like I said earlier the stupid private airport constrains development on the lakefront because it limits the height of buildings around the airport.
It’s incredibly rare that I think eminent domain is ever justified… but Burke Lakefront airport would be a fine candidate. Don’t get me wrong, it made for some fantastic CART races in the 80s and 90s, but it’s not really good for anything else is it?
The city owns the airport. They could have closed it a long time ago. There are some procedural hurdles like getting FAA permission and some federal grants but nothing that couldn’t have been resolved a long time ago. But Cleveland being Cleveland they never do even the simple thing right. The last mayor was completely worthless and never did anything with the Lakefront. He contended the airport was important to the corporate community. Now for reference, I used to work for National City Bank which was headquartered a 3 minute drive from the airport and owned 3 private planes. All of them were parked at County Airport in the suburbs. Even if they tore up the runways and just made it into a park that would be better.