mIt’s official. The Cleveland Browns have decided to move the team’s stadium from the lakefront and build a $2.4 billion dome in Brook Park, a suburb of Cleveland. The team’s lease at Huntington Bank Field is up in 2028, so the move will take place in 2029.
“We can see and feel that our Downtown is thriving. Our vision of redeveloping the lakefront is becoming a reality. And more and more businesses are choosing to invest in our great city,” Bibb said when announcing the move. “The Haslams’ choice to move the team away from this progress is frustrating and profoundly disheartening.”
The Browns have always played on the lakefront, but a domed stadium could be an economic boon to the area, similar to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. That’s what the Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam want.
“We pursued many possibilities, with our initial focus on renovating the current stadium and engaged design, construction and engineering experts to develop a plan to do so. We also explored building a new stadium on multiple sites, both within and outside of Cleveland. We’ve learned through our exhaustive work that renovating our current stadium will simply not solve many operational issues and would be a short-term approach,” the Haslams wrote in a statement. “With more time to reflect, 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. The transformational economic opportunities created by a dome far outweigh what a renovated stadium could produce with around ten events per year.”
NEWS: The Cleveland Browns are planning to leave the city of Cleveland for a new $2.4 billion domed stadium in Brook Park, Mayor Justin Bibb has announced.
The team’s lease at Huntington Bank Field is up in 2028. pic.twitter.com/NsKMTUtMzQ
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) October 17, 2024
Cleveland Browns Stadium opened in 1999, two years before Acrisure Stadium. The Tennessee Titans are also building a new domed stadium, succeeding the current Nissan Stadium beginning in 2027. Nissan Stadium also opened in 1999.
Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II said earlier this year that the organization is exploring options to upgrade Acrisure Stadium.
“We are going through a stadium assessment at this point. Really looking at what it’s going to take to be in this stadium for the next 10, 20 years, whatever it’s going to be,” Rooney said. “It’s a process, and we’ve hired some consultants to help us look at it. We like the stadium. It’s a great facility. And with the right kinds of improvements, can continue to be our home for a long time.”
Rooney said that the Steelers will not be seeking a dome or roof as part of their request for renovations, however. It’s also hard to imagine the Steelers leaving the North Shore for the suburbs.
Cleveland’s lease is up in 2028, while the Steelers’ lease ends in 2030. Acrisure itself has a deal in place with the organization for exclusive naming rights to the building through 2036.