Cleveland City Council has declined to reimburse the Cleveland Browns for $1.1 million in repairs to the city-owned lakefront stadium, rejecting the resolution by a 7-6 vote on Monday as frustration over the team’s planned move to Brook Park boiled over, according to WKYC reporting summarized by Athletic Business. The Browns had already completed the work, which the team and city deemed essential upgrades to Huntington Bank Field.
Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration told WKYC that the repairs were necessary to safely operate the stadium and that the city is required to repay the Browns for such maintenance under the terms of the facility’s existing lease. The work included repairs tied to a failed sanitary pump, a sewer ejector pump failure, failed pipe insulation and an overhead door, among several other projects, according to WKYC.
Council members who voted no made little effort to hide that the stadium vote was about more than pumps and pipes. “There’s an undercurrent taking place here: People aren’t happy. They feel we’re being sold out, they know we were sold out,” council member Michael Polensek told members of the administration who attended Monday’s council meeting, according to WKYC. “We’re frustrated. We’re not happy with losing the Browns, and we sure as hell are not happy with losing that stadium,” Polensek told WKYC.
The rejection comes as the Browns prepare to leave downtown Cleveland for a new domed stadium in suburban Brook Park, with the existing lakefront stadium expected to be demolished within five years, according to WKYC. The move, and the settlement that cleared its path, have remained a sore point for council members who opposed the terms the city accepted.
For residents, the immediate question is practical: the repairs at issue were described by the Bibb administration as necessary for the safe operation of a stadium the city still owns and the Browns still occupy. A refusal to reimburse under the lease could invite a legal fight over the city’s obligations, adding court costs to a dispute that began over maintenance bills.
The 7-6 margin shows how divided City Hall remains over the Browns’ departure. Supporters of the reimbursement argued the lease language is clear and that the city should honor it regardless of feelings about the move, while opponents treated the vote as one of the few levers left to register their anger at losing the team and the stadium.
What happens next is unresolved: the Browns have made the repairs, the council has refused to pay, and the Bibb administration maintains the city is obligated under the lease, according to WKYC. Whether the standoff is settled at City Hall or argued in court, Monday’s vote ensures the fight over Cleveland’s lakefront stadium will outlast this season.
Photo: Erik Drost, CC BY