Mike Polk Jr. has some thoughts on the Cleveland Browns and the latest stadium drama

As I write this, I'm standing on what could be the 50-yard line at a new Cleveland Browns Stadium.
You can almost hear it, can't you?
Of course, right now this is just a giant empty track of land in Brook Park, but the Haslam Sports Group just reportedly agreed to buy 176 acres here, and it's a pretty safe bet they're plan isn't to convert it into a big paintball course (although that would kind of rule, frankly).
No, this means that - like a young married Cleveland couple who just had their first kid - the Browns are considering moving to the suburbs.
Nothing is for certain, of course, but the math isn't difficult. Browns Stadium, as it currently exists, is not great - it's old, it's cold, and it needs a major upgrade or a total rebuild.
The stadium lease expires in 2028, so something's going to happen soon. All that's being negotiated now is precisely what will happen, where it will happen, and how much what happens is going to cost everybody, which is of particular interest to taxpayers.
Some think this land purchase is a surefire sign that Browns ownership plans to move the stadium out of downtown. Some believe it to be a strategic gambit by the Haslams, intended to spur city and county officials into action on an issue that they've been slow to address.
The Browns have been playing downtown since 1946, so if the team does move and the Brook Park Browns become a reality, that would obviously take some getting used to.
But this is the way the league seems to be going, as 12 of the 32 NFL teams already play their home games in suburban municipalities.
I've been to a few, and they're not my personal cup of tea. Suburban stadiums feel sterile and disconnected from the personality of the city. They look less like an integral part of a vibrant town and more like those eerie Amazon distribution stations that seem to pop up overnight.
But I'm also not so rigid that I couldn't suffer through having to watch my football team play in another building 10 minutes away from where I normally do, and without enduring 60-knot Canadian ice winds attacking me from the lake.
The good news for the Haslams is that, either way, they win.
Read: www.wkyc.com/a...

[@jay_ds4800]

Sofi is literally the dumbest comparison. That’s in LA, by LAX, the return on investment probably was made the second the Olympics was scheduled to be there. They also have two football teams sharing it

[@rickwaller9421]

Completely different financial backings and GameDay experiences. SoFi is 100k seats with about 2/3 away fans because not enough Angelinos care about football to go to games, even for 2 teams (until the week Raiders come to town). SoFi has a manmade lake some man just died in, again. Browns un-branded (at least for now) Stadium has what, under 50k seats but sells out in all orange almost every time. We got a frozen, real lake for our proud drunken maniac muni-lotters to jump in cuz they wanna and survive lol

[@PSCA1988]

​​@@rickwaller9421Under 50,000? Capacity is over 67,000. SoFi stadium is just over 70,000.

[@BigJ-Bone1800]

Am I the only person who actually remembers the old Stadium. Because compared to that the current stadium is still a palace it still looks 100 times better than the old stadium.

[@howardvantassel7557]

Yeah but I loved municipal stadium. Full of fans on Sunday the place rocked ❤

[@keithjordan7805]

So lets see now, a 25 year old stadium is considered 'old and run down'. I guess we got ripped off when we paid for that one with our tax money. Unbelievable, Cleveland is one of the poorest cities in the country and now the thieves that own the Browns want us to pay for a stadium that is used 10 times a year. What a joke, I will never support taxes going towards this.

[@FranksClassic42]

Thieves blame the local government for building that stadium too fast bot

[@hermanmunster714]

You'll never get chance to vote on anything. Your county council will pass a sin tax or bag tax or sales tax or all three. 😆 🤣 Except the sin tax not as lucrative since only divorced dads & bikers still smoke. l😆

[@dougcapehart]

Public funds going to privately owned sports teams is almost never a good investment for the taxpayer. Glad to see cities waking up to this reality.

[@jay_ds4800]

Idk they didn’t seem to mind building a stadium after art modell moved the team.

[@LearnToWin9638]

Hopefully when the Browns move to their new stadium…they can win their first Super Bowl in team history!

[@MrMike-fm8bp]

Never ever gonna happen

[@steveramos2861]

Great segment. My fan vote leans towards history and keeping the Browns Downtown.

[@btcsys]

They can build wherever they want to as long as they don't use my tax money

[@mikeschlup5279]

The city should tear down the stadium and develop the lakefront

[@jay_ds4800]

Ya the idea of building touristy stuff to make people go to the lakefront is a dumb idea. Make it a place that locals would go to and then you’ll build it up

[@PSCA1988]

Since they named the airport after the kicker, it only makes sense to move the stadium next to the airport.

[@acatguy23]

Hopkins Stadium

[@schorman]

Please, no dome.

[@MrMike-fm8bp]

Stadium is old ? Opened in 1999

[@stid2170]

Not one dime of tax payer money

[@MrMike-fm8bp]

Still the factory of sadness. Still haven’t won anything , put a better team on the field first

[@bocephus124]

No tax money, theses guys have enough to build and pay for it themselves

[@thetruthissweet2847]

There is nothing wrong with current stadium. Let Haslam pay for it himself.

[@hermanmunster714]

Use public tax dollars to invest in police, EMS, schools and updating infrastructure with an eye on attracting good paying jobs. Let private investors pay for entertainment complexes.

[@terri7864]

Love your coverage Mike! I already helped pay for the current stadium through taxes and the PSLs we bought

[@rolandkrueger5894]

2 BILLION for a team that hasn’t won ANYTHING since 1964!! They’re welcome to spend their own money

[@freddyb6105]

Move Burke to Brookpark and build a dome where Burke is

[@dennisneal4046]

I say that the city should approach it like any business venture. Look at the return on investment, and if the return is greater than the investment in comparison to other ways they could invest said funds then its a go, otherwise go to the alternative investment. That said, there are other non-tangible benefits of having an NFL team. The city just has to measure that against the tangible investment dollars. A 2015 article in Sports Destination Mag indicated that baseball and basketball bring more tangible benefits to a city because of the far greater number of home games played. Maybe the city should increase support for the Cavs & Guards and just let Jimmie & Dee move to BP (but no further!).

[@CO84trucker]

Art Modell in the day was scouting around for suburban places to build a new stadium.... in place of South Park Mall, we could've ended up with the Strongsville Browns!!!

[@tranquilitybase6417]

So just build a roof over top with a new perimeter structure and new coat of paint and upgrade electric and plumbing and let’s frggin’ GO TO THE SUPER BOWL. STAY DOWNTOWN!

[@cosmostrek2001]

An nfl team is a license to print money. They could move the team if they do not get a free stadium. Billionaires are waiting in line to buy a nfl team.

[@user-gb9dg6jn2n]

Better start encouraging kids to smoke and drink to pay for it. Along with 'the Arts' and 4th Avenue.

[@MrMike-fm8bp]

Haslams bought land in brookpark for a new 750 million jail…

[@shawnokeefe1580]

Theres is zero percent chance he does this without at least 1 bill public funds

[@kylecooper3325]

Thank You D and Jimmy, let us pray that Art Model wont go with us, cause he is NEVER going to be Brown..Hes a bmore bird, NOT A LOYAL DAWG!..BLESSINGS D AND JIMMY❤🎉✊🏾✌🏾🙏🏽!..

[@user-ne9zh7eq3l]

Nah it’s still going to be the Cleveland Browns because Brooke Park is still apart of Cleveland Ohio

[@perry_carrey8327]

That was never in question.

[@user-ne9zh7eq3l]

@@perry_carrey8327 I know but he was calling them the Brook Park Browns

[@perry_carrey8327]

@@user-ne9zh7eq3l because he's a comedian...

[@rickwaller9421]

Let's at least double up if we're gonna change their name, Brookpark Indians, anyone?

[@kylecooper3325]

We Have to MOVE..WE MUST ART MODEL FROM ABOVE US...WHEN WE MOVE WE LEAVE HIM BEHIND AND WE MO E FORWARD WITH OWNERS THAT WHAT THE BROWNS TO WIN!. D and J 🎉❤!