Cleveland standing its ground in stadium fight with the Browns

City officials leaning on state’s “Modell Law” in an attempt to keep the team playing its home games in downtown.

The City of Cleveland continued to hold its ground this week in the ongoing saga over the future home of the Cleveland Browns.

On Tuesday, city officials filed a lawsuit in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in an attempt to enforce the so-called Modell Law to keep the Browns in downtown Cleveland as opposed to the team’s preferred plan of moving to a newly constructed domed stadium in the suburb of Book Park. It is a move that city officials first discussed last October and has now become a reality.

The law, which you can find as a part of the Ohio Revised Code (ORC Section 6.97) and has been on the books since 1996, requires owners of professional sports teams that play in a taxpayer-supported stadium to give at least six months’ notice before leaving and must provide the city or local investors an opportunity to buy the team during those six months.

City officials have been after the Browns about when team officials plan to activate the six-month window. The Browns have continued to push back by seeking some clarity about what they claim are vague aspects of the law, such as how far a team must move before the law is enforced – Brook Park is only about 20 miles away. There is also the troubling aspect, at least from the city’s side of things, that team ownership can simply say, “no thank you,” to any offer to purchase the team.

Mark Griffin, law director and chief legal counsel for the city, countered in a written statement that the team has obligations to meet, according to Ideastream Public Media:

“The Modell Law is clear: if you take taxpayer money to fund your stadium, you have obligations to the community that made that investment possible. The Haslam Group’s circumvention of these requirements not only undermines the trust of Cleveland’s residents but also violates a law designed to protect all Ohioans.”

For their part, team officials are planning to move forward with plans to purchase a 176-acre site to build not only a domed stadium but an adjacent entertainment complex with restaurants, hotels, shopping, and more. The cost of that project has long been presented as costing about $2.4 billion, with the team taking on half the cost and looking for government support for the other half.

The plan, at least from the team’s perspective, is to get to work as soon as possible so that the new stadium will be ready for the 2029 season, while the Browns play out the final three years under their current lease at the city-owned lakefront stadium they have called home since 1999.

The Browns have yet to respond to the filing of the lawsuit.