BROOK PARK, Ohio — 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.
If this move successfully provokes city officials to expedite the process of committing to a stadium plan with what the Haslam Group considers to be adequate taxpayer support, the Browns stay downtown and Cleveland helps foot a hefty portion of the bill for the revamp.
If the city balks and doesn't come back with an offer they like, then the Haslams can say, "Well, we gave them a chance," and then start constructing their own little football town in Brook Park where, unlike in Cleveland, they will own all of the property surrounding the stadium. That means they alone would control parking, hotel, bar and restaurant development, etc.
In other words, much more autonomy and potential profit.
To be clear: I don't begrudge the Haslam Group's move at all here, and I hope that it's a step towards establishing some clarity on this stadium issue soon. And whether they stay downtown or move to Brook Park, I personally think the best PR move that the Haslams could make would be to fund the entirety of the project themselves and not rely on taxpayers from one of the most impoverished major cities in America to subsidize their incredibly successful business at all.
I know that concept might sound crazy, but isn't it actually crazier that we've gotten to a point that it sounds crazy to say a billionaire business owner should pay for the infrastructure of the business from which they obscenely profit? This is not me begrudging the success of The Haslams, and it's true they've done a lot of good for the Greater Cleveland area, but, it's important to remember that Greater Cleveland has treated them pretty nicely, too.
The Haslams purchased the Browns back in 2012 for just over $1 billion; according to Forbes, the franchise is now worth more than $4.6 billion. So they're not exactly hurting for capital, and while it is common practice for taxpayers to help pay for sports stadiums, it's certainly not required.
For example, Los Angeles' new SoFi Stadium (ironically built in the California suburb of Inglewood) is not only the most expensive NFL stadium ever built; it was also entirely privately funded. To the best of my knowledge, none of the investors in that project have yet found themselves strapped for cash and eating Ramen Noodles to get by, so it seems like it can work.
I recognize that's probably a pipe dream, and that we're all still going to end up on the hook for paying for stadium escalators ourselves. But that's Football in America, I guess, and I've repeatedly proven to be shameless in what I will endure in order to support this team, no matter what part town of town they play in.
This is unapologetic Brook Park Browns Bro Mike Polk Jr. for 3News.