It appears that the Bengals and the Browns are in a competition to have the most contentious relationship possible with the counties where they currently play their home games.
And they’re both winning.
Not to be outdone by the current hostilities between the Bengals and Hamilton County over a new lease at Paycor Stadium, the Browns are battling with Cuyahoga County over the team’s determination to leave Cleveland for a domed stadium in Brook Park.
The latest escalation came on Monday, when Cuyahoga County executive Chris Ronayne sent a letter to Haslam Sports Group accusing Browns ownership of “greed and opportunism.” The one-page correspondence also says Jimmy Haslam and company are “distorting the facts” and “attempting to bully the public and fleece County taxpayers for [Haslam Sports Group’s] private gain.”
Ronayne accuses Browns ownership of “pushing a costly, risky, and poorly conceived plan that uses public subsidy to diminish our region, our communities, and our businesses.” He calls the team’s effort to build a $3.4 billion facility a “boondoggle.”
Last week, Haslam Sports Group COO Dave Jenkins sent a letter to Ronayne accusing him of “communicating misleading information” about the Brook Park project and describing the opposition to the domed stadium “truly disheartening.”
The exchange of nastygrams comes at a time when the Browns are trying to secure $600 million in Ohio funding through the issuance of bonds.
Separate from the funding fight is pending litigation between the Browns and the city of Cleveland regarding the application of Ohio’s Art Modell Law to the team’s effort to leave its downtown stadium.
Even if both teams end up getting what they want, there’s an ugliness to the process that is unhelpful and unbecoming to everyone involved. And while public unpleasantries are hardly unprecedented when it comes to stadium politics (e.g., the time the Browns left Cleveland 30 years ago), the two fronts of animosity in the Ohio cities that currently host NFL teams invite speculation as to one or both situations will eventually catch fire like the Cuyahoga River once did.
