July 22, 2025 • 16 mins
Join us for the premiere episode of Building Brownstown as we sit down with Cleveland Browns owners, Jimmy and Dee Haslam. They discuss the exciting and transformative project of building a new dome stadium in Brook Park, set to open in 2029. Discover how this new facility will attract more than just football games, hosting national championship events, Final Four basketball tournaments, concerts, and even potentially the Women's World Cup in 2031. This project, with a $2 billion investment from the Haslam family, is more than just a stadium; it's a catalyst for growth in Northeast Ohio. Hear directly from Jimmy and Dee Haslam about their vision for the Cleveland Browns and the community, and how this stadium will be a legacy for generations to come, uniting fans and bringing unprecedented events to the region.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Want to welcome everybody to a special new podcast that
we're doing called Building Brownstown, and we're going to kick
things off in the biggest way possible with the owners
of your Cleveland Browns, Jimmy and d Haslam. Guys, this
is an exciting time. Thank you for being here, and
we're excited to talk about what should be a transformative event,
not only for the Cleveland Browns, but for northeast Ohio.
(00:20):
So I want to go back because you and I
we've had conversations on sidelines many many years ago when
it didn't seem like a dome stadium was a possibility.
When did it become a real possibility that the Cleveland
Browns will be playing in a dome stadium?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You won, don't you go through the history of how
we got I knew I will.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
But first of all, we're incredibly excited. I mean, this
is just it's going to be, as you said, transformational
for this region and we're really looking forward to it.
But I'll take you back. We started I don't know
eight with Mayor Jackson twenty eighteen talking about what could
happen to the stadium on the lake front, and he
(00:57):
asked us to do a plan of what the Lightfront
would look like. So we worked with you know, a
terrific architect, Thomas Woltz to come up with what we
thought was an amazing plan. And then as time went on,
you know, Mayor Bib came in and time went on
with what their vision was for the Light Front, and
(01:20):
it became more and more apparent that after looking at
what we could do there, that there's so much more
we could do for Northeast Ohio. We could do a
bigger dream, really take care of our fans by building
a dome. So that's when we started looking for property
and it's been, as you know, quite the process.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, So tell me about that process, because you say, okay,
now this is an idea. Now we need to find
a space. Now we need to find an architect. Now
we need to find somebody's going to excavate the space.
All the little things that go into what will be
i think, a beautiful finished product hopefully ready to go
in twenty twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
What was that process, like, you know, ironically, when Mayor
Bib came in and he wanted to take a look
at the overall design we'd come up with and decided
to put out an RFB and use a different architect.
That caused things to slow down. And during that time period,
the Deseronimo family, who we do some other things with,
as you know, presented this one hundred and seventy five
(02:15):
acre piece of property bounded by two interstates. Clean Flat
has power, which is a huge deal in this world,
right across from the airport, twelve miles from downtown, very
close to where we are here in Berea. We started
looking long and hard, and that's when we started having
second thoughts about investing in our current facility because it'd
(02:36):
be like you had a not so good house in
a not so good location. And that's what we finally
figured out, and it would be real tough to fix it.
The location challenges remain, so that's when we pivoted and
started looking at Brook Park.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
And you don't want to think short sighted. I mean
this is a long play. I mean the Superdome is
fifty years old, so you're thinking, what can we do
for northeast Ohio. That is a long play that really
takes care of our fans and actually creates something pretty
unique for Ohio.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, people, I think forget maybe in twenty fourteen, you
guys came in and put a lot of money into
that stadium with that initial renovation, and at some point,
to your point, you don't want to keep throwing money
into something. You're saying, let's build something from scratch. That
is the dream.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Any money as we spent on the existing stadium would
have been a temporary fix, maybe ten or fifteen years.
It is a big project that we'll have, as d said,
a transformative effect on Cleveland, Cyoga County, in northeast Ohio,
and we'll be around a long long time.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
So the big pushback, right is not so much that
there's a dome. I think a lot of people are
very excited about that, but that it's not in downtown Cleveland.
I know that you guys have exhausted every opportunity to
see if that was feasible. Ultimately, why wasn't that feasible?
And then that led you to that location in brook Park.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
We did work hard, and as we've said many times,
it had been way easier if there was an opportunity
to put a dome stadium somewhere downtown. We looked hard
at Burke this time last year, worked with the city
and the county on that The reality is there's two
or three problems with Burke. One that is built on
a landfill and so the soil, the soil is i'll
just say not good. And number two, nobody can really
(04:16):
tell you when Burke will be closed. Some people say
five years, some people say never. I know when I
brought it up to the government just rolled his eyes
and said, Jimmy, that's not happening. So then we pivoted
away from there. As long as Burke is there, you
can't put a roof on the current stadium, okay. And
that would also involve us playing somewhere else for a
couple of years, okay, if we did that kind of
(04:36):
major Between the cost having to play somewhere else and
the opportune at Brook Park, it just made more sense
to go to Brook Park, which is d said is
twelve miles from downtown. It's right across from the airport.
And I think you know this, but maybe a lot
of our fans listening today don't know this. Two thirds
of our fans that come to a game at our
(04:57):
current Huntington Field come from out outside Joga County two thirds,
So that's sixty seven percent. So I think they're all excited.
D and I spent a lot of time done in Columbus,
as you know, with our soccer team, and the people
in Columbus are very excited because all of a sudden,
you know, where you live, it's an hour and a
half hour, forty five ingriss egress, easy, parking, easy, et cetera.
(05:17):
And I'll just say, coming to our current stadium, it's
a challenge.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Yeah. Now I think one other thing. I think that
it opens up twenty two more acres on the lakefront.
That could create the most exciting lakefront in the country.
So you have to kind of think, Okay, we're going
to be able to open the lakefront and develop it.
We're going to be able to have this transformational dome
in brook Park, We're going to be able to do
the river front, and you're going to have a new airport.
(05:43):
I mean, that is pure growth for this area. And
it's a growth mindset that we've needed for a long time.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
And to that point, you guys obviously go to owners meetings,
you speak with other owners, and I know that the
architects is same one who did Minnesota, for example, those
domes and what you've seen out there in Los Angeles.
There's so much more than football state and I would
imagine they would tell you that this has changed probably
our economics and economics of the region because of the
events that can attract.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
The Wilf family that owns Minnesota are really good friends
with D and I. They're also in the mlsay on
the Orlando and they're good friends of ours and Minneapolis.
Whether we have tough weather here Minneapolis is really tough,
and so building this dome facility, we'll go from having
ten events a year in our current stadium to have
in all kinds of events. And I mean, I think
(06:30):
it's really important for everybody to understand that, yes, there'll
be ten NFL games and hopefully more, but there'll also
be a chance to have national championship games in football,
Final four games in basketball men's and women's. They'll be
a chance to have the Sweet Sixteen here. The Women's
World Cup has come to the US in thirty one.
(06:50):
We will put in a bid for that. Would we
have gotten a bid in if we'd had it, we'd
have had a bid for the Men's World Cup, which
comes next year. As you know, so you have to
think big and broad. All the concerts that we've missed
that go to Detroit or go somewhere else Indianapolis will
now come here. So it is going to be transformational.
I know there's people who are concerned about what's it
(07:11):
going to do to downtown. Well, let's just take the
litmus test for stadiums is can you get Taylor Swift?
We didn't get that. Okay, with this new facility, we
would get that. The people that travel to these big concerts,
we know it. When we have our concerts, forty to
fifty percent of the people come from outside the county,
and lot of them drive a long way. The two
hotels we're going to add on at Brook Park, no
(07:33):
way will they have the ability to take care of
everybody that wants to come to a concert or game.
I was talking to one of our good friends the
other day and he's got sons that are like nine
and eleven. He takes into one away Browns game, and
he said, no matter if the stadium is downtown or
it's twenty five miles from downtown, always stay downtown because
I want my sons to get the experience of that
(07:55):
that metro area feel, the city, et cetera. So the
opportunity if you think right now, you fly into Cleveland
and I'll just say, our airport doesn't present itself well.
And then you look across the street and there's one
hundred and seventy five acres of what I would call
industrial wasteland. Okay, that was an old Ford plant that
(08:16):
at one point in time employed twenty two thousand people,
unbelievable amount of jobs. Or this area that's just sitting there, Well,
you don't start off saying, man, this is an awesome area.
With the airport being read redone in four or five
years and with what we're going to build there now
when people come to Cleveland, they're going to put an
awesome face forward on Man, what a cool airport. Look
(08:37):
at this facility. I had no idea Cleveland had something
like this. So these use the word transformative several times,
and I think that's right. And I also think things
say have to be staged. And so Dan Gilbert and
Bedrock are doing a great job down on the river.
You know they're building their practice facility there, a big
facility with Cleveland Clinic, all kinds of residential We'll be
(08:58):
going at about the same time down here in brook Park.
We hope to start moving dirt in October November and
start coming out of the ground in the first quarter.
And I think the lakefront will take a little bit
more time. The infrastructure has to be put in place,
but you know, areas have to absorb new growth. So
I actually think the timing is going to be really good.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
All Right, you kind of talked about and we'll get
into a little more about just northeast Ohio. Your overall
vision for what this can mean, and I think you've
touched on it quite a bit. But what do you
hope this does for the team? I mean, I think
there's a part of it. When you see a new stadium,
a new dome, it can be attractive to players, and
it also if you can put the best team on
the field, it eliminates a lot of variables and allows
your talent to shiney.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Listen, I think we'd be reniss if we didn't say
and D and I take full blame. We have not
done the job on the field we should. We bear
full responsibility. And if anybody deserves a great stadium and
a great team, it's the Cleveland Browns fans. You deal
with them every day. We have the world's greatest fans.
We are going to deliver a world class stadium. I
could argue it's the best stadium in the country, the
(10:00):
best in the world. We need to develop the same
kind of team. I do think a dome stadium and
you're with us when we go on the road, does
give you an advantage with the home field because that
noise is just packed in there tighter. And we hope
this will become not only a great experience for our fans,
but a terrible experience for the visiting team because it
is a quote hard place to play and you already.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Have that dog pound. Now imagine that when that sound
is coming right back down, I'll.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Speaking of a dog pound. I was thinking we were talking
the other day, and this has been a long process,
as you said, Nathan, to work this out. But I
can't tell you how excited we are to see dirt mood,
to see steel be put up, the first seat put
in the dog pound. I mean, that is so exciting.
And dog pound participants, we're going to give you an
even better experience you have now because you're going to
(10:47):
be closer to the field.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
I think everything we've done in the planning process for
the new Dome Stadium is fan first. You know, what
can we do to create the best experience for the fan.
That's talking about the unique food service. You know, we're
gonna have some really great experiences. Just everything about the
concourse and we've thought about, you know, what's the experience
(11:10):
going to be like for the fan, what the plaza
looks like. I mean, it's kind of walking in the fans'
shoes to create the best experience for them, because we
know now it's been a pretty rough experience for them
and we want to make sure that every detail is
fan first.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Think about this. We're going to have twelve to fourteen
thousand surface parking lots, not a parking grudge, surface parking lots,
which makes it real easy. Okay, we're going to have
a great place to tailgate, but if you think about
four fans coming to in a car, four times fourteen
is fifty six at seats sixty five, almost everybody is
going to be able to park very close to the stadium,
(11:48):
whereas right now I'll just say it's not that way.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
And that's part of that fan experience. And you guys
are so fan focused. Everything we do here. When we
come into this building, every day. It's about giving the
fans the best experience. And I think obviously, as you
alluded to, on the field will take care of a
lot of that. But and the things that we can control,
that's a big deal. And you talked earlier about kind
of your legacies, right that this would be there when
you are not here. This will be here when JW
and Whitney may not be here. How important is that
(12:14):
to you that you're going to be able to come
into this community and have an opportunity to do something
that truly transforms if we've used that word this area
for generations to come.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Well, we've always said that this team belongs to this community.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
I mean we have, you know, we knew that from
day one and have carried that with us. We're just
stewards of it for a time, and we want to
make sure we're the best stewarts possible. And that's the
reason the Dome Stadium has become so important, because we
think it's so important for this community to think big,
to have vision, to really be excited about what this
(12:51):
community can look like. So I think for us, it's
not about us, It's about Cleveland and Northeast Ohio and
what it means to be citizens from here. I mean,
this is a unique place. We have fallen in love
with it. We're adopted, I guess we're somewhat adopted here,
but love this area, love this region. So it's not
(13:13):
about our legacy. It's actually about the legacy of the
Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Yeah. I think D and I feel a little uncomfortable
when you say legacy because that's all you're talking about,
all about yourself. I think what we say is our
parents raised us that when you're in a community, you
give back and whether it's you know, stay in the game.
That D and her team have done such a great
job encouraging kids to come to school every day because
we know that sets you up not only for school success,
(13:37):
but life success. Whether there's been the football fields, all
the inner city fields we built that you know, have
artificial turf, We've improved the stands, the lighting, et cetera.
We've done the same thing in Columbus, building many pitches.
So it is our We have given back to the
community and we will continue to do so. And really
this is a great way for us to give back
(13:58):
to the community by building this really mixed use entertainment
district with a facility that it won't be used as much,
but could be used three hundred and sixty five days
that'll be here long after we're here. Is a great
way for us to give back. I really can't think
of a better way for us to give back than
what we're doing here.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
I think we've assembled a terrific team. I mean, the architecture, HKS,
you know, Lincoln Developers. I mean, we have this incredible
team working together to make sure that the experience is
going to be just perfect and also fit with what
this region.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Is all about. And I love that you guys have
talked about the passion of these fans and how deserving
they are, and what you're going to give them is
a facility and an experience that matches their excellence as fans,
their passion and hopefully it leads to a lot of
winning and a lot of great memories.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
That's right, And that's the great thing about sports is
that you know, it was interesting watching the Masters. I
know you're a big golfer. That was during a really
tough time for the country and for a certain extent.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Of the world.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
In A young man from Northern Ireland seeks a five
foot plunt and everybody goes crazy. Sports do bring us together.
And you might be for this candor or that can,
or you might believe in this or that. When you're
sitting next to each other in a dog pound or
you know, at a Cavs game or a Guardian's game,
we're all rooting for the same team. That's the great
thing about sports. I mean, it gives us a break
(15:23):
from real life where we can focus on our team,
winning the game, cheering for that team, and having fun
with our friends.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Yeah, Cleveland's so fortunate to have three major sports teams,
and obviously I think one of the reasons we do
is because we have such great fan base. We have
fans that really believe in sports and love sports, and
it really does unite us as a community. Really great
story about what we're about.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Well, thank you guys for the time. Thank you for
the monster investment you talked about, over two billion dollars
from your family into this in what should be transformative
for this region, for this team, for this fan base
who is so deserving. And I think everybody's just really
excited to get this going.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
We hope they are. We're very excited thank you, Yeah,
thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Really appreciate it.
Want to welcome everybody to a special new podcast that
we're doing called Building Brownstown, and we're going to kick
things off in the biggest way possible with the owners
of your Cleveland Browns, Jimmy and d Haslam. Guys, this
is an exciting time. Thank you for being here, and
we're excited to talk about what should be a transformative event,
not only for the Cleveland Browns, but for northeast Ohio.
(00:20):
So I want to go back because you and I
we've had conversations on sidelines many many years ago when
it didn't seem like a dome stadium was a possibility.
When did it become a real possibility that the Cleveland
Browns will be playing in a dome stadium?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You won, don't you go through the history of how
we got I knew I will.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
But first of all, we're incredibly excited. I mean, this
is just it's going to be, as you said, transformational
for this region and we're really looking forward to it.
But I'll take you back. We started I don't know
eight with Mayor Jackson twenty eighteen talking about what could
happen to the stadium on the lake front, and he
(00:57):
asked us to do a plan of what the Lightfront
would look like. So we worked with you know, a
terrific architect, Thomas Woltz to come up with what we
thought was an amazing plan. And then as time went on,
you know, Mayor Bib came in and time went on
with what their vision was for the Light Front, and
(01:20):
it became more and more apparent that after looking at
what we could do there, that there's so much more
we could do for Northeast Ohio. We could do a
bigger dream, really take care of our fans by building
a dome. So that's when we started looking for property
and it's been, as you know, quite the process.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, So tell me about that process, because you say, okay,
now this is an idea. Now we need to find
a space. Now we need to find an architect. Now
we need to find somebody's going to excavate the space.
All the little things that go into what will be
i think, a beautiful finished product hopefully ready to go
in twenty twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
What was that process, like, you know, ironically, when Mayor
Bib came in and he wanted to take a look
at the overall design we'd come up with and decided
to put out an RFB and use a different architect.
That caused things to slow down. And during that time period,
the Deseronimo family, who we do some other things with,
as you know, presented this one hundred and seventy five
(02:15):
acre piece of property bounded by two interstates. Clean Flat
has power, which is a huge deal in this world,
right across from the airport, twelve miles from downtown, very
close to where we are here in Berea. We started
looking long and hard, and that's when we started having
second thoughts about investing in our current facility because it'd
(02:36):
be like you had a not so good house in
a not so good location. And that's what we finally
figured out, and it would be real tough to fix it.
The location challenges remain, so that's when we pivoted and
started looking at Brook Park.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
And you don't want to think short sighted. I mean
this is a long play. I mean the Superdome is
fifty years old, so you're thinking, what can we do
for northeast Ohio. That is a long play that really
takes care of our fans and actually creates something pretty
unique for Ohio.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, people, I think forget maybe in twenty fourteen, you
guys came in and put a lot of money into
that stadium with that initial renovation, and at some point,
to your point, you don't want to keep throwing money
into something. You're saying, let's build something from scratch. That
is the dream.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Any money as we spent on the existing stadium would
have been a temporary fix, maybe ten or fifteen years.
It is a big project that we'll have, as d said,
a transformative effect on Cleveland, Cyoga County, in northeast Ohio,
and we'll be around a long long time.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
So the big pushback, right is not so much that
there's a dome. I think a lot of people are
very excited about that, but that it's not in downtown Cleveland.
I know that you guys have exhausted every opportunity to
see if that was feasible. Ultimately, why wasn't that feasible?
And then that led you to that location in brook Park.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
We did work hard, and as we've said many times,
it had been way easier if there was an opportunity
to put a dome stadium somewhere downtown. We looked hard
at Burke this time last year, worked with the city
and the county on that The reality is there's two
or three problems with Burke. One that is built on
a landfill and so the soil, the soil is i'll
just say not good. And number two, nobody can really
(04:16):
tell you when Burke will be closed. Some people say
five years, some people say never. I know when I
brought it up to the government just rolled his eyes
and said, Jimmy, that's not happening. So then we pivoted
away from there. As long as Burke is there, you
can't put a roof on the current stadium, okay. And
that would also involve us playing somewhere else for a
couple of years, okay, if we did that kind of
(04:36):
major Between the cost having to play somewhere else and
the opportune at Brook Park, it just made more sense
to go to Brook Park, which is d said is
twelve miles from downtown. It's right across from the airport.
And I think you know this, but maybe a lot
of our fans listening today don't know this. Two thirds
of our fans that come to a game at our
(04:57):
current Huntington Field come from out outside Joga County two thirds,
So that's sixty seven percent. So I think they're all excited.
D and I spent a lot of time done in Columbus,
as you know, with our soccer team, and the people
in Columbus are very excited because all of a sudden,
you know, where you live, it's an hour and a
half hour, forty five ingriss egress, easy, parking, easy, et cetera.
(05:17):
And I'll just say, coming to our current stadium, it's
a challenge.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Yeah. Now I think one other thing. I think that
it opens up twenty two more acres on the lakefront.
That could create the most exciting lakefront in the country.
So you have to kind of think, Okay, we're going
to be able to open the lakefront and develop it.
We're going to be able to have this transformational dome
in brook Park, We're going to be able to do
the river front, and you're going to have a new airport.
(05:43):
I mean, that is pure growth for this area. And
it's a growth mindset that we've needed for a long time.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
And to that point, you guys obviously go to owners meetings,
you speak with other owners, and I know that the
architects is same one who did Minnesota, for example, those
domes and what you've seen out there in Los Angeles.
There's so much more than football state and I would
imagine they would tell you that this has changed probably
our economics and economics of the region because of the
events that can attract.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
The Wilf family that owns Minnesota are really good friends
with D and I. They're also in the mlsay on
the Orlando and they're good friends of ours and Minneapolis.
Whether we have tough weather here Minneapolis is really tough,
and so building this dome facility, we'll go from having
ten events a year in our current stadium to have
in all kinds of events. And I mean, I think
(06:30):
it's really important for everybody to understand that, yes, there'll
be ten NFL games and hopefully more, but there'll also
be a chance to have national championship games in football,
Final four games in basketball men's and women's. They'll be
a chance to have the Sweet Sixteen here. The Women's
World Cup has come to the US in thirty one.
(06:50):
We will put in a bid for that. Would we
have gotten a bid in if we'd had it, we'd
have had a bid for the Men's World Cup, which
comes next year. As you know, so you have to
think big and broad. All the concerts that we've missed
that go to Detroit or go somewhere else Indianapolis will
now come here. So it is going to be transformational.
I know there's people who are concerned about what's it
(07:11):
going to do to downtown. Well, let's just take the
litmus test for stadiums is can you get Taylor Swift?
We didn't get that. Okay, with this new facility, we
would get that. The people that travel to these big concerts,
we know it. When we have our concerts, forty to
fifty percent of the people come from outside the county,
and lot of them drive a long way. The two
hotels we're going to add on at Brook Park, no
(07:33):
way will they have the ability to take care of
everybody that wants to come to a concert or game.
I was talking to one of our good friends the
other day and he's got sons that are like nine
and eleven. He takes into one away Browns game, and
he said, no matter if the stadium is downtown or
it's twenty five miles from downtown, always stay downtown because
I want my sons to get the experience of that
(07:55):
that metro area feel, the city, et cetera. So the
opportunity if you think right now, you fly into Cleveland
and I'll just say, our airport doesn't present itself well.
And then you look across the street and there's one
hundred and seventy five acres of what I would call
industrial wasteland. Okay, that was an old Ford plant that
(08:16):
at one point in time employed twenty two thousand people,
unbelievable amount of jobs. Or this area that's just sitting there, Well,
you don't start off saying, man, this is an awesome area.
With the airport being read redone in four or five
years and with what we're going to build there now
when people come to Cleveland, they're going to put an
awesome face forward on Man, what a cool airport. Look
(08:37):
at this facility. I had no idea Cleveland had something
like this. So these use the word transformative several times,
and I think that's right. And I also think things
say have to be staged. And so Dan Gilbert and
Bedrock are doing a great job down on the river.
You know they're building their practice facility there, a big
facility with Cleveland Clinic, all kinds of residential We'll be
(08:58):
going at about the same time down here in brook Park.
We hope to start moving dirt in October November and
start coming out of the ground in the first quarter.
And I think the lakefront will take a little bit
more time. The infrastructure has to be put in place,
but you know, areas have to absorb new growth. So
I actually think the timing is going to be really good.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
All Right, you kind of talked about and we'll get
into a little more about just northeast Ohio. Your overall
vision for what this can mean, and I think you've
touched on it quite a bit. But what do you
hope this does for the team? I mean, I think
there's a part of it. When you see a new stadium,
a new dome, it can be attractive to players, and
it also if you can put the best team on
the field, it eliminates a lot of variables and allows
your talent to shiney.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Listen, I think we'd be reniss if we didn't say
and D and I take full blame. We have not
done the job on the field we should. We bear
full responsibility. And if anybody deserves a great stadium and
a great team, it's the Cleveland Browns fans. You deal
with them every day. We have the world's greatest fans.
We are going to deliver a world class stadium. I
could argue it's the best stadium in the country, the
(10:00):
best in the world. We need to develop the same
kind of team. I do think a dome stadium and
you're with us when we go on the road, does
give you an advantage with the home field because that
noise is just packed in there tighter. And we hope
this will become not only a great experience for our fans,
but a terrible experience for the visiting team because it
is a quote hard place to play and you already.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Have that dog pound. Now imagine that when that sound
is coming right back down, I'll.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Speaking of a dog pound. I was thinking we were talking
the other day, and this has been a long process,
as you said, Nathan, to work this out. But I
can't tell you how excited we are to see dirt mood,
to see steel be put up, the first seat put
in the dog pound. I mean, that is so exciting.
And dog pound participants, we're going to give you an
even better experience you have now because you're going to
(10:47):
be closer to the field.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
I think everything we've done in the planning process for
the new Dome Stadium is fan first. You know, what
can we do to create the best experience for the fan.
That's talking about the unique food service. You know, we're
gonna have some really great experiences. Just everything about the
concourse and we've thought about, you know, what's the experience
(11:10):
going to be like for the fan, what the plaza
looks like. I mean, it's kind of walking in the fans'
shoes to create the best experience for them, because we
know now it's been a pretty rough experience for them
and we want to make sure that every detail is
fan first.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Think about this. We're going to have twelve to fourteen
thousand surface parking lots, not a parking grudge, surface parking lots,
which makes it real easy. Okay, we're going to have
a great place to tailgate, but if you think about
four fans coming to in a car, four times fourteen
is fifty six at seats sixty five, almost everybody is
going to be able to park very close to the stadium,
(11:48):
whereas right now I'll just say it's not that way.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
And that's part of that fan experience. And you guys
are so fan focused. Everything we do here. When we
come into this building, every day. It's about giving the
fans the best experience. And I think obviously, as you
alluded to, on the field will take care of a
lot of that. But and the things that we can control,
that's a big deal. And you talked earlier about kind
of your legacies, right that this would be there when
you are not here. This will be here when JW
and Whitney may not be here. How important is that
(12:14):
to you that you're going to be able to come
into this community and have an opportunity to do something
that truly transforms if we've used that word this area
for generations to come.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Well, we've always said that this team belongs to this community.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
I mean we have, you know, we knew that from
day one and have carried that with us. We're just
stewards of it for a time, and we want to
make sure we're the best stewarts possible. And that's the
reason the Dome Stadium has become so important, because we
think it's so important for this community to think big,
to have vision, to really be excited about what this
(12:51):
community can look like. So I think for us, it's
not about us, It's about Cleveland and Northeast Ohio and
what it means to be citizens from here. I mean,
this is a unique place. We have fallen in love
with it. We're adopted, I guess we're somewhat adopted here,
but love this area, love this region. So it's not
(13:13):
about our legacy. It's actually about the legacy of the
Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Yeah. I think D and I feel a little uncomfortable
when you say legacy because that's all you're talking about,
all about yourself. I think what we say is our
parents raised us that when you're in a community, you
give back and whether it's you know, stay in the game.
That D and her team have done such a great
job encouraging kids to come to school every day because
we know that sets you up not only for school success,
(13:37):
but life success. Whether there's been the football fields, all
the inner city fields we built that you know, have
artificial turf, We've improved the stands, the lighting, et cetera.
We've done the same thing in Columbus, building many pitches.
So it is our We have given back to the
community and we will continue to do so. And really
this is a great way for us to give back
(13:58):
to the community by building this really mixed use entertainment
district with a facility that it won't be used as much,
but could be used three hundred and sixty five days
that'll be here long after we're here. Is a great
way for us to give back. I really can't think
of a better way for us to give back than
what we're doing here.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
I think we've assembled a terrific team. I mean, the architecture, HKS,
you know, Lincoln Developers. I mean, we have this incredible
team working together to make sure that the experience is
going to be just perfect and also fit with what
this region.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Is all about. And I love that you guys have
talked about the passion of these fans and how deserving
they are, and what you're going to give them is
a facility and an experience that matches their excellence as fans,
their passion and hopefully it leads to a lot of
winning and a lot of great memories.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
That's right, And that's the great thing about sports is
that you know, it was interesting watching the Masters. I
know you're a big golfer. That was during a really
tough time for the country and for a certain extent.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Of the world.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
In A young man from Northern Ireland seeks a five
foot plunt and everybody goes crazy. Sports do bring us together.
And you might be for this candor or that can,
or you might believe in this or that. When you're
sitting next to each other in a dog pound or
you know, at a Cavs game or a Guardian's game,
we're all rooting for the same team. That's the great
thing about sports. I mean, it gives us a break
(15:23):
from real life where we can focus on our team,
winning the game, cheering for that team, and having fun
with our friends.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Yeah, Cleveland's so fortunate to have three major sports teams,
and obviously I think one of the reasons we do
is because we have such great fan base. We have
fans that really believe in sports and love sports, and
it really does unite us as a community. Really great
story about what we're about.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Well, thank you guys for the time. Thank you for
the monster investment you talked about, over two billion dollars
from your family into this in what should be transformative
for this region, for this team, for this fan base
who is so deserving. And I think everybody's just really
excited to get this going.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
We hope they are. We're very excited thank you, Yeah,
thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Really appreciate it.
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