The vision for the Browns enclosed stadium and mixed-use entertainment district has a concrete financial plan to bring significant economic impact to the region.
Leaders from Haslam Sports Group (HSG) on Thursday discussed their proposal and the decision to pursue the domed stadium and mixed-use development in Brook Park for the new Huntington Bank Field.
"We are working on a new domed stadium, but we're also putting in a pretty substantial mixed-use development. And we look at this as a sports and entertainment district," Managing and Principal Partner Jimmy Haslam said.
The stadium portion of the project will cost about $2.4 billion, and HSG is seeking a 50/50 public and private partnership. The private funding is worth $1.2 billion, as well as any cost overruns. The public funding sought is also $1.2 billion, but there are three different areas that make up the proposed public funding component of the project – the city of Brook Park, Cuyahoga County and the state of Ohio. The project calls for bond-financed contributions of $422 million from Brook Park, $178 million from Cuyahoga County and $600 million from the state of Ohio that would be paid back with tax revenue primarily generated by the project.
The proposed public funding model does not use any existing tax revenue sources or take away from current public uses. Instead, it leverages the new tax revenues of the project to create both up-front proceeds as well as excess that can be used by the public stakeholders to also ensure sustainability of the building by funding future capital repairs and to advance other public initiatives.
At the county level, the primary ask of Cuyahoga County is to leverage its strong credit and issue bonds that will be repaid by the project-generated Brook Park revenues, along with potentially two new county taxes on visitors to the region – the 1 percent incremental bed tax and a rental car surcharge, neither of which would take away from existing public sources.
The proceeds of these sources allow the county to issue bonds generating $600 million in up-front project funding, to go along with the $1.2 billion+ private stadium investment. In the Browns' model, more than two-thirds of the revenues backing the county bonds would be from Brook Park sources, as approximately $422 million of the $600 million would be attributed to Brook Park tax revenue sources – specifically Brook Park admission tax, incomes tax and parking tax, which are all new sources.
The remaining $178 million of the issuance would come from the county sources that would be paid by visitors to the county and protect existing sources in the form of incremental bed tax and a rental car surcharge.
"I think what is attractive to us is the vast majority of those monies, bed taxes and rental car fees, are going to be paid by people who do not live in Cuyahoga County," Haslam said. "It would be unfair to say all of them, but the vast majority would be paid by people who do not live in the county."
At the city level, every dollar of taxes and the fiscal impact generated by the project and Browns operations in Brook Park is both new and incremental. Due to the year-round impact of the dome and the transformation it enables, Brook Park has the capacity to benefit from the project with nearly $1.8 billion in projected fiscal impacts over the initial 30-year lease.
The biggest portion of these Brook Park fiscal impacts is admissions tax, which would be enhanced by an agreement to increase Brook Park's current 3 percent admissions tax to 6.5 percent, generating substantial proceeds from Browns tickets and the other year-round activities enabled by the enclosed stadium. Substantial income tax revenue from player and staff salaries, as well as development-generated labor, along with parking tax also contribute to the fiscal impacts and would be pledged towards funding for project costs.
There are numerous ways to leverage the Brook Park fiscal impacts for up-front project funding, but the most efficient way is for the county to wrap these revenues with its strong credit and issue bonds that will be repaid by the Brook Park sources. In this scenario, the Brook Park fiscal impacts are projected to yield approximately $422 million in up-front proceeds.
HSG officials expect the county to leverage its sales tax credit for other critical priorities, including funding of a new jail. They have stayed away from sales tax in the proposal and are instead asking the county to leverage its non-tax credit to maximize the Brook Park revenue streams. The county followed a similar model in wrapping the local revenues by backing city of Cleveland tax revenues with its sales tax credit to issue bonds in the recent Cavaliers and Guardians renovation deals.
The last piece of funding would come from the state level with their input at $600 million.
HSG is not asking the state of Ohio to contribute $600 million as has been done in the past on sports stadium projects. Rather, it is asking the State to borrow its balance sheet to maximize the impact of the taxes generated by the project and Browns operations. This is a new model, different than what has been previously asked of states in the past, one that requires significant private investment and only leverages the substantial, new, direct taxes generated within the project site to pay back the bonds.
HSG has worked to identify the net new incremental state income, sales and commercial activity taxes from the project that will do more than just pay back the bonds. It will also generate substantial excess for the state of Ohio.
Chief Operating Officer David A. Jenkins said the state currently generates income tax, sales taxes and commercial activity taxes on its business. The combination of those three sources over a 30-year period will generate about $3 billion in tax revenue. The fiscal impact of the project is $2.9 billion. After paying off the bonds, it leaves a net $1.3 billion for the state of Ohio.
"That leaves roughly 1.3 billion new dollars that would not exist but for a domed stadium in mixed use development. Again, relying on the incremental taxes generated by the project to fund the $600 million bond issuance and create a return for the state of Ohio," Jenkins said.
In early February 2025, as part of the initial state budget presentation, Governor Mike DeWine introduced a creative plan that would solve funding for all future stadium projects across the state with a sport gaming tax increase. HSG was not part of those discussions and awaits to see how that plan moves forward.
"Optionality is good," Jenkins said. "These are complex projects that take a lot of minds to figure out the best path. And him including it in the budget, we're appreciative because it signals a recognition of how important these facilities are to our communities in the state. And we're excited to keep working through it with them."
To ensure the new enclosed stadium is a long-term, sustainable community asset that lasts beyond an initial 30-year lease, HSG is working to solve for future capital repair needs in the up-front funding model.
If Cuyahoga County participates in the project and wraps the Brook Park revenue sources, the significant excess local tax revenues generated by the project will fund debt service on the bonds, capital repairs – projected to be approximately $400 million in future dollars over the life of the 30-year lease – and other uses.
"This is how we can solve for capital repairs," Jenkins said. "How we can solve for infrastructure or other city or regional needs. But it takes all parties at the table to identify and prioritize those needs work through the best use of the excess."
Overall, the economic impact of a project of this magnitude will be seen across the region. A new enclosed stadium in Brook Park, anchoring a major mixed-use development with year-round events and significant job creation – including 5,400 full-time permanent positions and 6,000 construction jobs – will have economic and fiscal impacts that are a transformational opportunity for the region. This economic development project would sit on 176 acres that are currently vacant with great proximity to downtown and the airport.
The national real estate consulting firm RCLCO has projected $1.3 billion in annual economic impact.
Between the state and local levels, the project, together with the Browns' operations, are also projected to generate a total of $6.3 billion in fiscal impact and tax revenues over the life of the initial 30-year lease. At the local level, the project – and the additional proposed county taxes on visitors – is expected to generate approximately $3.4 billion in fiscal impact and tax revenues.
"We get excited about the thought that we could have a domed stadium, a (modernized) airport, a developed lakefront, and it could be all done," Managing and Principal Partner Dee Haslam said. "And a lot of the funds for the lakefront and some of the development downtown is spun off by what we're doing at Brook Park. And so, we get really excited about that this could be a community that can do it all. We just need to work together to get it done."
