Cleveland mayor disappointed when Browns move to Baltimore

It's official. The Cleveland Browns are moving.

The Cleveland Browns have fully revealed their plans to move the team to a new city after their current stadium lease expires in 2028. The Browns have played at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, Ohio since 1999.

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The Browns made the stadium their home after returning from an expansion crisis that would have moved the team to Baltimore. Owner Art Modell intended to move the team, but was threatened with legal action by the city of Cleveland and fans.

The Browns were officially suspended as a team after these events and were allowed to return in 1999 – which they did. In 2024, the team will be in another relocation project. This time around, it looks like the team will move once the lease at Huntington Bank Field ends in 2028.

The Browns made the move official and wrote a letter to fans.

“Our stadium planning process began in 2017 and as Mayor Bibb mentioned today, over the past two years we have engaged in a positive, productive and collaborative dialogue with the mayor and his staff, working together to find the optimal long-term solution for our stadium. “Stadium,” the statement said.

“We have pursued many options, initially focusing on renovating the current stadium and engaging design, construction and engineering experts to develop a plan for this. We have also explored building a new stadium at multiple locations within and outside of Cleveland.” Through our extensive work, we have learned that renovating our current stadium simply will not solve many operational issues and would be a short-term approach. With more time to think, we also realized that this type of stadium will not attract large events and year-round activities that justify the scale of this public-private partnership. The transformative economic opportunities that a dome brings far exceed what a renovated stadium hosting about ten events per year could bring.

While there appears to have been a ton of work done behind the scenes to ensure the Browns remain in Cleveland, that is not the case. The team will relocate to nearby Brook Park, along with a new, state-of-the-art facility that will reportedly cost more than $2.4 billion to build.

Of course, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb expressed his displeasure with the situation.

“I am deeply disappointed that Haslam Sports Group has decided to relocate to Brook Park,” Bibb said.

“The Haslams’ decision to move the team away is frustrating and deeply disheartening. Over the past two years, this administration has made tireless efforts to develop solutions that serve both (Haslam Sports Group's) goals and the long-term interests of our residents and the broader community,” Bibb continued.

Bibb states that the move from Cleveland to Brook Park will hurt a variety of area businesses that make a living off of their city's game attendees.

So far there has been no mention of whether the Browns will have to change their name since they will no longer be in Cleveland, but there will certainly be more information as time goes on.

As previously mentioned, the Browns will remain at Huntington Bank Field until their lease expires in 2028. Additionally, there could be a reality where the team is called the Brook Park Browns.

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