(The Center Square) – A group of Ohio Democratic lawmakers want answers about the Cleveland Browns’ proposed new stadium.
The group wants a proposed stadium financing plan put on hold, demanding more transparency, more hearings and more accountability before any deal moves forward.
They say the proposed financing plan could cost Ohio taxpayers more than $1 billion over the next 30 years.
“The proposed financing structure relies almost entirely on state taxpayer dollars,” said Rep. Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati. “Elected officials have a responsibility to the people we represent – not to developers, not to sports owners, but to working families.”
Isaacsohn, along with Reps. Dontavius Jarrells, D-Columbus, and Terrence Upchurch, D-Cleveland, wrote Finance Committee Chairman Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, and Arts, Athletics and Tourism Committee Chairwoman Melanie Miller, R-Ashland, saying no formal bill language or amendment has been made available to lawmakers to move through traditional legislative processes.
“The proposed financing structure relies almost entirely on state taxpayer dollars,” Upchurch said. “Elected officials have a responsibility to the people we represent – not to developers, not to sports owners, but to working families.”
As previously reported by The Center Square, the Browns are asking for $1.2 billion in public funds to pay for a new estimated $2.4 billion stadium in Brook Park.
The Haslam Sports Group says it will ask for $422 million from Brook Park, $178 million from Cuyahoga County and $600 million from the state of Ohio.
The group then said the bonds would be paid back with a tax capture at the project site.
While the team says the funds would be new money, economists who have studied professional sports stadiums have shown that money spent at a stadium and taxes collected are diverted spending from elsewhere in a state or region with the overall tax base not rising.
“It’s just your typical loser of a financial plan that claims to bring big economic benefits at no cost to taxpayers, when neither of those things are true,” said economist J.C. Bradbury of Georgia’s Kennesaw State University. “The Browns have a history of losing, and this plan sticks with that tradition. The fabulously wealthy Haslams should be embarrassed to be expecting Ohio taxpayers to give them a handout.”
The letter from lawmakers also highlights what they call serious unanswered questions about revenue projections, the lack of guarantees from private developers, and the impact of relocating existing economic activity from one region to another.
