(The Center Square) – Ohio’s former attorney general doesn’t believe the $100 million the Haslam Sports Group is giving the city of Cleveland comes close to covering the cost to the city’s taxpayers over the past eight decades.
Marc Dann, representing state taxpayers in a suit to stop lawmakers from handling over $600 million in unclaimed state taxpayer funds to the Haslams so the Cleveland Browns can build a new stadium, also doesn’t think the recent deal will impact his lawsuit.
“I don’t think it has any impact on the unclaimed funds lawsuit,” Dann told The Center Square on Tuesday. “I think the Haslams were generous with our clients’ money to buy their way out of their situation with the city of Cleveland, even though $100 million won’t begin to repay the subsidy they’ve received from the city over the past 80 years.”
Dann’s comments came a few hours after the city and the Haslams announced a deal Tuesday night that calls for the city to drop its lawsuits and allows the Browns to move to a new domed stadium in the suburb of Brook Park.
“I’m proud to deliver this historic deal to the residents of the city of Cleveland,” Mayor Justin Bibb said in a statement. “My administration, with the Haslams’ support, will finally unlock the full potential of our lakefront, benefiting all residents and attracting new investment to the city.”
The Haslams agreed to tear down Huntington Bank Field for $30 million, pay the city $25 million by Dec. 1 and pay another $5 million a year for five years, beginning in 2029.
The Haslams also agreed to spend $20 million over 10 years to Community Benefit Projects, and both groups agreed to support infrastructure plans related to roads and the airport at the new stadium site.
“Because of Mayor Bibb’s leadership, and this monumental public-private partnership, we are accelerating the transformation of Cleveland’s lakefront while delivering a new world-class stadium and mixed-use development in Brook Park. It’s a win for the city, the region, and the fans,” HSG Principal Partners Dee and Jimmy Haslam said in a statement.
Dann’s lawsuit was filed on behalf of three named Ohio residents and a class of unnamed individuals.
The lawsuit says Ohio would be violating its constitution by using $600 million in unclaimed funds to pay for part of a new $2.4 billion Browns stadium in Brook Park, with plans to repay the funds over time through a tax capture at the site.
Economists who have extensively studied the public funding of sports stadiums have consistently shown that stadiums do not produce the promised benefits and instead rely on diverted spending from elsewhere in the region.
“This is not free money,” economist J.C. Bradbury of Kennesaw State University in Georgia told The Center Square. “You can’t just pull public stadium funding out of the air.”
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost also opposes the plan to use unclaimed taxpayer funds for the new stadium.
