Latest news with #ModellLaw
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New developments in Cleveland's fight to keep the Browns downtown
CLEVELAND (WJW) — The Fox 8 I-Team is tracking new developments in the city of Cleveland's fight to keep the Browns playing football downtown. On Friday, attorneys for the city filed a motion in federal court asking a judge to reconsider allowing the Browns to file an amended complaint. I-TEAM: New development in unsolved Cleveland Metroparks double murder 'Defendant the City of Cleveland (the City) respectfully asks this Court to reconsider its May 23, 2025 Order granting the Browns' motion to amend because the Court overlooked the threshold question of whether it even had jurisdiction to grant leave to amend,' the motion filed by attorneys for Cleveland states. 'As the City explained, the Browns did not properly invoke this Court's jurisdiction by suing under the Declaratory Judgment Act as a basis for federal-question jurisdiction.' The Browns are taking steps toward moving to a dome in Brook Park, and last year, they filed suit asking the federal court to throw out the Modell Law, an Ohio law that restricts sports teams from moving. The Browns filed an amended complaint Monday. More tax money requested to build Browns dome site as group support grows: I-Team The amended complaint attacks the city while referring to the plan by the Haslam Sports Group, saying, 'The Haslams' proposal is a fiscally sound solution for the City that will keep the Browns in the heart of the greater metropolitan area for at least another fifty years. Instead of recognizing the benefits of the Haslams' proposal, the City seeks to hold the Browns hostage to its own failure of vision. Instead of a new domed facility that can drive significant economic activity year-round, the City insists on sticking with an aging, uncovered stadium that is used only a dozen or so times annually.' Meanwhile, on Friday Downtown Cleveland, Inc President and CEO Michael Deemer testified before the State Senate Finance Committee in Columbus. Deemer told members of the committee he is in favor of keeping the Browns playing football downtown. The Browns plan to invest more than $1 billion in a dome and entertainment complex, but they are also asking for $600 million from the state. A decision on state funding is expected late next month. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Browns file new amended complaint in lawsuit over move to dome: I-Team
***Related coverage above: Legal bills show city cost of trying to keep Browns in Cleveland*** CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has found a new complaint filed in federal court by the Cleveland Browns against the city of Cleveland. The Browns are taking steps toward moving to a dome in Brook Park, and last year they filed suit asking federal court to throw out the Modell Law, an Ohio law that restricts sports teams from moving. The amended complaint was filed Monday in federal court. The amended complaint attacks the city while referring to the plan by the Haslam Sports Group, saying, 'The Haslams' proposal is a fiscally sound solution for the City that will keep the Browns in the heart of the greater metropolitan area for at least another fifty years. Instead of recognizing the benefits of the Haslams' proposal, the City seeks to hold the Browns hostage to its own failure of vision. Instead of a new domed facility that can drive significant economic activity year-round, the City insists on sticking with an aging, uncovered stadium that is used only a dozen or so times annually.' Legal bills show city cost of trying to keep Browns in Cleveland: I-Team Meanwhile, the city is pushing a lawsuit against the Browns in county court trying to block the team from moving. A hearing has been scheduled in that case next month. The Browns would not move until their lease at the current stadium runs out. The amended lawsuit also said, 'The Modell Law does not require a professional sports team or its owner to play in a facility without a lease agreement or to enter into a new lease agreement for a facility,' and, 'the Modell Law is plainly intended to prevent a team that is playing in a tax-supported facility from abandoning that facility during the term of the applicable lease.' Behind all of this, the I-Team has reported that the city of Cleveland legal bills in the court battles with the Browns have now topped more than $400,000. Teen boy dies after fall from Green Memorial Day parade float In the Browns amended complaint, they also ask the federal judge to make the city pay for the team's costs and legal fees fighting the Modell Law. The Browns plan to invest more than $1 billion in a dome and entertainment complex, but they are also asking for $600 million from the state. A decision on state funding is expected late next month. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ohio governor says funding for Browns stadium project is ‘doable'
CLEVELAND (WJW) — The Fox 8 I-Team is investigating new developments with the plan for the Cleveland Browns to move to an enclosed stadium in Brook Park. On Wednesday, team attorneys were in court for the first time, while Governor Mike DeWine in Cleveland said he believes financing for the project is doable. Lorain woman Sharon Matusiak, 64, killed by train at Leavitt Road crossing 'If we could end up in a dome stadium in the state of Ohio, we do not have one, I think it's a very, very positive thing,' DeWine said. 'I think it's a very, very positive thing the Haslam family is willing to put a lot of their own money in.' Last week, Browns Owner Jimmy Haslam spoke to the I-Team about investing more than a billion dollars in the project. 'You can't think of this as a stadium project, it's an economic development project,' Haslam said. The Browns are also asking for public money, including $600 million from the state, bond money that would be paid back with profits from the project. Families share story that brought them together for Donate Life Month While the governor likes the project, he wants a different plan for public money. Using a tax increase on sports gambling to help pay for the stadium.'I don't want to take the money from the general fund,' DeWine said. 'We can raise the tax, we still won't be the highest tax in the country, and we can generate $150 to $180 million every year to go into a fund for sports stadiums.' Meanwhile, on Wednesday afternoon, only the I-Team rolled as lawyers walked into court. It was the first meeting on a lawsuit filed by the City of Cleveland trying to block the Browns from moving. Another hearing on the case is set for June.'We would like a decision on our lawsuit with respect to enforcing the Modell Law,' said Cleveland Law Director Mark Griffin. 'We would like to move it forward.' Browns QB Shedeur Sanders surprises students at Cleveland high school The Modell Law restricts professional sports teams from moving. And, Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne said he wants the team to stay in Downtown Cleveland. Ronayne sent a letter Monday to state Senate leaders requesting $350 million in state funds to renovate Huntington Bank Field, the current stadium for the Browns, even though the team is making plans to leave. 'We're not about not doing something,' Ronayne said. 'We are doing what is smart, and smart is coming back downtown and being on the lakefront.' Ronayne said he has concerns that Browns officials are providing unrealistic projections. I-Team: Impact on your streets if police oversight ends A report prepared by the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, at the request of a state senator, states some of the Haslam Sports Group's economic projections for a new enclosed stadium 'may be overly optimistic.' The Haslams disagree. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
County executive says Browns dome plan ‘won't pan out,' but Jimmy Haslam disagrees
CLEVELAND (WJW) – While Cleveland Browns leaders stress they are focusing all their efforts on plans to build an enclosed stadium in Brook Park, Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronanye still is holding out hope the team will have a change of heart. Ronanye spoke to the FOX 8 I-Team Friday and said he also believes the enclosed stadium project will not be successful. He said he will not support it, even though it is planned to be built in Cuyahoga County. He believes the Browns should continue to play games in downtown Cleveland. He said moving the team to Brook Park will hurt downtown businesses. 'We don't see necessarily this deal is going to pan out,' Ronayne said. 'So if you claim it is the next big investment, we don't buy it. We want them to come home.' Bold renovation plans revealed for Cleveland's West Side Market This week, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam spoke exclusively to the I-Team. He and a top executive revealed they are no longer talking about plans to renovate the existing stadium on the lakefront. Instead, team officials are focusing completely on building a dome in Brook Park with development around it. The Browns are promising to invest more than $1 billion and are asking the state and county for $600 million each in bond money to be paid back with profits from the project. State officials are still discussing the funding proposal and are expected to have a decision by the end of June. Ronayne still says no. 'We've said, 'not with our support,'' Ronayne said. 'We've said, 'if you're going to Brook Park, you're doing it with other sources of support.'' While the Cuyahoga County executive thinks county money to help with the enclosed stadium project is a risk for taxpayers, Haslam disagrees.'This project in total, if you count the real estate, would be north of $3 billion,' Haslam said. 'That'll be the fourth or fifth largest project ever done in Ohio period.' Two Jefferson Area elementary schools closed due to rash outbreak The mayor's office issued the following statement: 'We will continue to pursue our legal strategy and remain confident that the Modell Law applies to HSG's attempt to move the Browns out of Cleveland.' Haslam, however, is not looking back. 'We want this project to succeed,' Haslam said. 'We want a can-do type environment. Yes, we can do that.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cleveland Browns' quest for a domed stadium starts an NFL fight for Ohio dollars
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A political battle fit for the gridiron is underway in Ohio, where state Republican leaders are clashing over whether to single out the Cleveland Browns for help building a new suburban domed stadium or impose tax hikes to fund stadium upgrades for the Cincinnati Bengals and other teams longer term. Neither idea is without critics in both parties, who argue that underwriting National Football League stadiums siphons money from the state's policy priorities, including funding infrastructure and public schools. The most heated debate centers on a proposal by Haslam Sports Group, which owns the Browns, to relocate from the team's existing open-air stadium on downtown Cleveland's lakeshore — where they have played since 1999 — to a new $2.4 billion complex in Brook Park, about 15 miles (24.14 kilometers) south. The team has proposed a private-public partnership to which the state would contribute $600 million. After the money was approved by the Ohio House last week, commissioners in Hamilton County, home to the Bengals, balked. They moved swiftly to re-up their request for $350 million for Paycor Stadium, where the Bengals' lease is up June 30, 2026. The ask follows Bengals Executive Vice President Katie Blackburn's comments at recent NFL meetings in Florida, where she said, 'We could, I guess, go wherever we wanted after this year' — while noting negotiations are progressing. The stadium debate heads to the Ohio Senate after their two-week spring break. Browns dream big, Cleveland recalls Modell nightmare Dee and Jimmy Haslam, generous Republican campaign donors, say they want a facility 'consistent with other world-class NFL stadiums.' With the addition of a dome, the Browns could host year-round events during northeast Ohio's severe winters and 'catalyze meaningful economic impact' at an adjacent entertainment complex. They point out that eight in 10 home game attendees live outside city limits. Leaders in Cleveland, where Browns games draw coveted economic activity to downtown and the tourism district along Lake Erie, are livid. The existing $247 million Huntington Bank Field was primarily funded by city and county tax dollars. To many, it's a symbol of the hard-luck sports town's commitment to the team it nearly lost when then-owner Art Modell notoriously packed off to Baltimore in 1996. Modell's messy exit, also hitched to a stadium dispute, led to a state law that says no owner of an Ohio professional sports team that plays most of its home games at a tax-supported stadium can go elsewhere without an agreement with its host city or unless the host city is given six months' notice with an opportunity to buy the team. Democratic Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and members of the city council have threatened for months to invoke the 'Modell Law' to prevent the Browns from leaving their current location, where the lease runs through the 2028 season. The city plans to remake the so-called 'North Shore' with an eye toward accessibility, economic development and environmental protection. The team has filed a constitutional challenge to the law, and the city sued it back. Meanwhile, the clock for allocating dollars toward the project is running down: Lawmakers face a June 30 deadline to finalize the state budget for the next two years. Governor and House have different funding ideas Republican Gov. Mike DeWine's budget proposal called for raising the $600 million by doubling the tax on sports betting companies from 20% to 40%. The idea was to create a long-term revenue stream that could help both the Browns and the Bengals, and other teams. 'The governor's plan goes beyond one team,' DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said. 'The general revenue fund can't afford that. Therefore, we need to look at something that is more sustainable and can help all the teams.' The GOP-led Ohio House, however, rejected DeWine's plan in a vote last week. Its version of the operating budget calls for issuing $600 million in general obligation bonds to pay for the Browns project instead. Paying off the bonds would cost the state about $1 billion over 30 years. House Finance Chairman Brian Stewart told reporters that the 'metrics' of bonds are better for Ohio taxpayers because officials project that tax revenue from the Browns' 'megaproject' will be ample to cover the $40 million a year it will take to repay the bonds. Senate must work through the opposition As the Senate takes up the bill, it must weigh opposition to the current plan from all quarters: DeWine, the city of Cleveland, the Bengals, legislative Democrats and Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, who is running to succeed DeWine next year. 'Ohio is getting ready to spend more money on a new stadium in one city for one football team than it will spend on new highway construction for the next two years in the entire state,' Yost wrote in a recent Columbus Dispatch op-ed. He called state money for the project a 'spendthrift gift to a billionaire.' House Democrats unsuccessfully fought to pause the funding proposal altogether, citing unanswered questions about revenue projections, economic impacts and commitments by private developers. Cleveland Rep. Terrence Upchurch told reporters that lawmakers have more important priorities than helping the Browns' owners, 'especially since they only won three (expletive) games last year,' referring to the team's 3-14 record. A fellow Democrat in the Republican-supermajority Senate has proposed prohibiting public dollars from going to any professional sports franchise without a winning record in three of its five past seasons. ___ AP Sports Writer Joe Reedy in Cleveland contributed to this report.
