Cleveland's Mayor Rips Browns for Moving to Suburb

Cleveland announced Thursday that its NFL team is abandoning the city for a domed stadium in a suburb, with the mayor saying the Browns owners' decision is "driven by a desire to maximize profits rather than positive impact." The new stadium is not built yet. "They had the opportunity to reinvest in Cleveland, transform the current stadium into a world-class facility, enhance the fan experience, and remain highly profitable," Justin Bibb said, CNBC reports. "We put those options on the table in good faith. Unfortunately, that was not enough."

Jimmy and Dee Haslam, the leads in the group that owns the team, said renovating the current stadium on the Lake Erie shore would only be a short-term solution to the Browns' stadium issues, per ESPN. "We have also realized that without a dome, we will not attract the type of large-scale events and year-round activity to justify the magnitude of this public-private partnership," their statement said. They added that the $2.4 billion stadium planned for Brook Park would not use existing taxpayer money. The owners had sought a 50-50 private/public partnership to build the new stadium. Their lease on their current home expires in 2028, per the AP.

The city said the Browns' move will cost Cleveland an economic impact of $30 million per year. If the Brook Park deal falls through, Bibb said, the city would consider resuming negotiations with the Haslams, per CNBC. The Browns have played along the lake since their first game in 1946. The existing stadium was built when the team was reborn as an expansion franchise in 1999. The original franchise had moved to Baltimore four years earlier when that owner, Art Modell, tangled with Cleveland officials. (More Cleveland stories.)