State senator plans bill that would require teams to be winners to get state funding.
The Cleveland Browns' quest to leave downtown for a domed stadium and entertainment complex in the Cuyahoga County suburb of Brook Park has been an ongoing drama from the moment the team made its desires public.
There has been ongoing back-and-forth over whether or not the team should renovate Huntington Bank Field, its home since 1999, which is the preference of Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne.
There are dueling lawsuits over the legality of the so-called Modell Law, which seeks to put restrictions on a professional team leaving town, with the Browns contending that moving 13.5 miles away and remaining in the same county is not what the legislation had in mind.
There has also been the small detail of just where the public portion of the $2.4 billion public-private stadium project will be funded. The state will be kicking in $600 million, with Gov. Mike DeWine advocating for an increased tax on the companies that operate sports betting apps to help fund a pool of money, while some in the state legislature prefer good old-fashioned bonds to cover the amount. Cuyahoga County and other local jurisdictions will foot the other $600 million.
On Monday, the situation started to evolve from a drama to a baggy-pants farce thanks to Senator Bill DeMora of Columbus.
DeMora announced plans to introduce what he is labeling the “Public Access to Professional Sports Act,” which would ban Ohio’s professional sports team from receiving public money unless the team achieves at least a .500 record in three of the five seasons prior to receiving funding.
In addition, the bill would require teams to repay all the money they received if they leave the city they are playing in.
Given that the Browns have posted 22 losing seasons since 1999 and are looking to leave Cleveland, you can see how this could be a sticking point.
While DeMora admitted he does not believe his bill will gain any traction, he believes it is time that someone spoke up about how public funds are used in the state, as he told NBC 4 in Columbus:
“They always say that these sports teams provide the public benefits and help local communities and all this stuff. Well, it doesn’t when you stink, okay? When the Browns stink, they’re not helping anybody.
“We have lots of issues in the state of Ohio right now, from public education to the Medicaid cuts, they want to cut libraries, they want to cut support to higher education. They do all these things and then want to give $600 million to a professional football team that stinks? That’s ridiculous. Something needs to be done.”
While this may be more of a publicity stunt than anything else to highlight the larger issues going on across the state, the idea of tying funding to the team’s actions could have some merit.
There are too many variables to penalize a team for having a down year or two in a five-year period. But continuing to do dubious things? Well, that is a different topic.
For example:
- Running out of a meeting because you heard Eric Mangini had been fired by the New York Jets and you are afraid of losing out on him as your next head coach?
- Passing on hiring Andy Reid as head coach because you were already wining and dining Rob Chudzinski?
- Drafting Johnny Manziel?
- Trading for Odell Beckham Jr.?
It would be hard to argue that those moves would not have merited some kind of financial hit, even though Browns - and by extension the fans - already suffered from the on-field results from those and other dubious actions over the years.
