Airspace trouble could threaten Browns’ new $2.4 billion suburban stadium

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00:00The Cleveland Browns' contentious battle to build their new suburban stadium took another

00:04turbulent twist Tuesday when the Ohio Department of Transportation refused to issue a permit over

00:10concerns about air traffic at nearby Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

00:17The $2.4 billion dome stadium plan submitted by the Haslam Sports Group is expected to top out

00:24at a height of 221 feet. That's 58 feet higher than the maximum allowed for that location,

00:31according to ODOT's aviation office. The Browns said they're working with ODOT to resolve the issue,

00:37but they're confused by the ruling since the Federal Aviation Administration had already

00:42approved the stadium plan as long as there are red lights on the roof to guide pilots. In July,

00:48team owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam told reporters they were confident the stadium at Brook Park

00:53would go forward despite complications.

00:56Like 99.9.

00:57We're very confident, very excited about it.

00:59I mean, we can't be more confident. Let me say, these projects are really hard, okay? And the

01:04state's a hurdle. You know, there's other hurdles. You got to work with DOT and rapid transit. You got

01:10to get your financing. You got to control costs. These are big, complicated projects.

01:14Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and other city officials are upset the team is planning to leave downtown,

01:19but the two sides couldn't come to an agreement on how much money the city could provide to keep the

01:24team. The Haslams took their request to the state legislature and were approved. Team COO David

01:30Jenkins said last month everyone will benefit from the deal.

01:34Half of that we're proposing comes from us plus the overrun, so $1.2 billion in private funding.

01:39The other half we've asked all along has been $600 million from the state, which was granted on June 30th

01:46within the state's budget. They're calling that a performance grant. The key to that $600 million

01:51is we're going to generate over $3 billion of tax revenues over the 30-year life of the lease.

01:58It's a familiar scenario to those we've covered recently, including Major League Baseball's

02:02athletics, who will receive $380 million in state funds as they build in Las Vegas. The Washington

02:09Commanders recently announced a stadium deal with the city that'll see D.C. pitch in $1.1 billion

02:15in investments. And in Illinois, the Bears are still over $500 million in debt to the city

02:22after renovating Soldier Field in 2003, but they're looking for the state to approve favorable tax

02:28legislation for their Arlington Heights project. Stadium projects for the Tennessee Titans in

02:33Nashville and the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, New York, which are well underway, are also receiving

02:39substantial state funding. The Browns are appealing the permit denial by ODOT and they aim to break ground

02:44on their stadium project next year, hoping it'll open before the 2028 season.

02:49For Straight Arrow News, I'm Chris Francis.