CLEVELAND — The city of Cleveland says it will be "moving forward" in taking legal action to try to prevent the Browns from leaving downtown and relocating to a soon-to-be-built domed stadium in Brook Park.
Specifically, the city plans to use current state law, passed in 1996 and named for former Browns owner Art Modell, who moved the team from Cleveland to Baltimore, as the justification to keep the NFL team on the lakefront. The law states the following:
"No owner of a professional sports team that uses a tax-supported facility for most of its home games and receives financial assistance from the state or a political subdivision thereof shall cease playing most of its home games at the facility and begin playing most of its home games elsewhere unless the owner either:
- (A) Enters into an agreement with the political subdivision permitting the team to play most of its home games elsewhere;
- (B) Gives the political subdivision in which the facility is located not less than six months' advance notice of the owner's intention to cease playing most of its home games at the facility and, during the six months after such notice, gives the political subdivision or any individual or group of individuals who reside in the area the opportunity to purchase the team."
The provision of the law at issue here is the requirement for the Browns owners to entertain offers to buy the team from investors who would keep the team in downtown Cleveland, before they can carry out their plan to move the team to Brook Park.
"We're gonna move forward because that's the law," Cleveland Law Director Mark Griffin told 3News' Stephanie Haney in an interview. "We're gonna move forward because that is what the Cleveland city ordinances require us to do."
So how would that process work? Griffin pointed to a previous situation involving the Columbus Crew soccer team, where the previous owners signaled their intent to move that team to Texas. That case ending up settling out of court, and the team remains in Columbus to this day.
"In the Columbus Crew example, then-Attorney General (Mike) DeWine started with an initial letter reminding the teams that they have an obligation to follow [Ohio] Revised Code 9.67. About three months later, he followed up with a lawsuit asking the court to compel compliance with the law," Griffin explained. "So here in Cleveland, we would similarly move forward with a letter and then, if there is not compliance with the law, we'd ask a court to intervene."
The Haslam Sports Group, owners of the Browns, shared the below statement about the possibility of the Bibb administration invoking the Modell Law to keep the team from leaving the city of Cleveland:
“Obviously, we have a clear understanding of the situation that resulted in the original creation of the Modell Law, and our current stadium efforts and desire to make a transformative investment in Greater Cleveland and the entire Northeast Ohio region could not be more different. Our dome stadium and ancillary development focus in Brook Park is the optimal solution for our fans and the region not only because it will bring more large-scale events and economic activity but also because it will open up the lakefront for more impactful development. The proposed Brook Park project will bring far more value to Cleveland than just the 10-12 events the current stadium attracts annually. This long-term stadium solution is about strengthening Greater Cleveland and Northeast Ohio by creating more growth opportunities for our region. Our commitment to Cleveland will not change and our off-the-field work throughout Northeast Ohio will continue. We are not moving out of Northeast Ohio and while more work remains to make the Brook Park vision a reality, we look forward to continuing to make progress on this exciting opportunity with our public partners and other stakeholders.”
THE ANNOUNCEMENT
Last week, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb announced that the Haslam Sports Group decided to move ahead on building a new domed stadium for the team to play in Brook Park. Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam confirmed the news in a statement after Bibb's press conference.
"A solution like this will be transformative not only for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, but also the entire state of Ohio from the resulting events, tourism, and job creation," the Haslams wrote. "Additionally, moving the current stadium will allow the city and region's collective vision for the Cleveland lakefront to be optimally realized, and downtown will benefit from the major events the Brook Park dome brings to the region."
Bibb said he was informed of the Haslams' decision during a meeting with the pair on Oct. 16.
"The Haslams' choice to move the team away from this progress is frustrating and profoundly disheartening," Bibb said, pointing to recent successes in the downtown area including the groundbreaking of the Cavaliers' new training center and the awarding of $60 million in federal funds for the North Coast Connector.
THE BACKLASH
Members of Cleveland City Council sounded off about the Haslam Sports Group's decision during a meeting on Monday night.
"You do anything to assist in taking this team out of the city of Cleveland, all bets are off," a defiant Councilman Michael Polensek declared.
Councilman Brian Kazy says he will fight owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam as well as City Hall to keep the Browns' stadium right on the Cleveland lakefront where he and others believe it belongs.
"Nobody should have the right to come into Cleveland — I don't care if it's the Cleveland Browns, Sherwin Williams, the Cleveland Clinic, or any organization that we support — that could just be able to turn around and walk away," Kazy remarked.
"I strongly don't believe the last conversation has been had," added Council President Blaine Griffin.
Kazy also took a shot at the Browns' poor performance on the field under the ownership of the Haslams. Since 2012, when they bought the team, the Browns have played more than 200 games and won just 71 of them. Kazy says that's an indication they should be putting their money elsewhere.
"If the Haslam Sports Group wants to provide a 'fan experience,' put a damn winning team on the field."
WILL IT WORK?
Legal experts aren't sure about whether the Modell Law could really prevent the Browns from leaving Cleveland.
Anat Alon-Beck, corporate law professor from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, says there are questions about the measure's constitutionality which were not answered after the Crew lawsuit was settled.
"The case was settled before there was any substantive legal analysis," said Alon-Beck, meaning that the law has yet to be tested in court. "These are interesting questions where you have this mix of corporate law, commercial and constitutional challenges as well.
"I think it's about property rights and whether they have a right to relocate or not. Are you going to force them to sell or is it just a a right of first refusal? I think that's another thing that the court will have to evaluate."
The Modell Law was authored by then state senator and former longtime U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who said even if the law ties up a relocation in court, the city can use the delay to its advantage and seek a settlement.
"There's $400 million that have been invested by the taxpayers," Kucinich, currently running as an independent in Ohio's 7th Congressional District, told 3News. "What if they (the Haslams) wanted to move to Sacramento or something? This is about any kind of a move out of Cleveland, and that's why I wrote the law.
"And if they can stick it to Cleveland, they'll do the same thing to Brook Park or any other community."