Browns Confirm Pending Land Purchase Could Be Used For Future Stadium

At the league's annual owner's meetings, Jimmy and Dee Haslam discussed potential plans for a future Browns stadium, which includes land in Brook Park that the team owners are closing in on acquiring.

The Brook Park Browns!

That could be what Cleveland fans are calling their beloved football franchise in the future depending on the outcome of the ongoing future stadium conversations.

The saga took it's latest turn on Monday as Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam confirmed to reporters that they're close to acquiring a 176-acre parcel of land in Brook Park that could become the site of a new stadium for the organization. Initial reports of the ownership group pursuing the plot on land – which sits just east of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport – first surfaced in early February via the NEOTrans blog.

Speaking at the annual owner's meetings in Orland, Fla., the Haslams seemed to emphasize the value of building a dome stadium for the region, whether it be downtown or on the aforementioned parcel of land they're in the process of purchasing. That said, Jimmy Haslam called their thought process "open minded," when it comes to the project, noting that potential costs of a new facility will be one of the key elements in determining what direction they go.

The Browns have already sought $1 billion in funding to renovate the current venue along the lakefront – one of the other options the Haslams are considering. Currently, the team's lease on Cleveland Browns Stadium expires in 2028, but the Haslams suggested that if needed it could be extended by a few more years. Should a massive overhaul be approved it would be likely coincide with the development of the lakefront, which has been a long-time priority for the franchise and the city of Cleveland.

To this point in the process,the city has continually indicated that they'd like to find a solution that keeps the stadium downtown. As the Haslams eluded to tough, the pending cost of such a massive enclosed venue could become too big of a burden for the city to bear. Estimations for a new domed stadium come in around $2 billion or more. Jimmy Haslam seemed to suggest that route isn't even a feasible one.

Dec 28, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Browns and New York Jets players await at the line of

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That may ultimately leave the Brook Park plot as the only viable option to build a new, state of the art domed facility that the Haslams may be inclined to pursue.

One thing both the Haslams and the city understand is how complicated these negotiations are. There are truly no easy answers, but there is a timeline on all this. Whatever those answers are, they should start to reveal themselves over the course of the next two years according to Jimmy Haslam.

In the meantime, Browns fans will be on standby as they wait to find out where they'll consume Cleveland Browns football in the years to come.