Browns Adding to Game Day Experience

[MoFlo]

Mo, can you clarify with your research? What were the original agreements? Why/how would the city be saving money?

To clarify, I don't know the original agreements off the top of my head, I'm just posting what the chief of staff and the city was saying in the earlier meetings.

That, and it seems as if the majority of those who will be voting "no" are doing so to spite the Browns, and because of such a small timeframe to decide, not because they believe it's a raw deal for the city.

 

[WellYouNeednt]

Cleveland Browns' improvement plan for FirstEnergy Stadium before City Council today (LIVE coverage)


FirstEnergy Stadium renovation proposal
The Cleveland Browns will appear before Cleveland City Council this morning to ask for $2 million for each of the next 15 years for improvements to FirstEnergy Stadium. (Courtesy of the Cleveland Browns)

Leila Atassi, Northeast Ohio Media Group By Leila Atassi, Northeast Ohio Media Group
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on November 25, 2013 at 8:30 AM, updated November 25, 2013 at 2:46 PM






Tune in to the comments section below, beginning at 9:30 a.m., for live updates on the hearing.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and the Cleveland Browns today will ask City Council to tap the general fund for $2 million in each of the next 15 years for upgrades to the “fan experience” at city-owned FirstEnergy Stadium.
Some council members have said in recent interviews that they would not support the financing agreement unless it is clear in the stadium lease that the city is obligated to pay for the kinds of renovations that are planned.
Jackson and Browns CEO Joe Banner announced Tuesday that they had reached a tentative agreement on the financing of $120 million worth of proposed stadium upgrades, which include two enormous, high-definition scoreboards, faster escalators and a state-of-the-art sound system.
The Browns would cover half of the expense with loans from the NFL and take out a bank loan for the remainder. The city would contribute $30 million over 15 years – estimated at $22 million when adjusted for inflation – to offset that cost.

What bank is providing the loan? What does their balance sheet look like? Who picks up the tab if Haslam defaults on the loan? Where are these funds coming from?


The city also will give the Browns organization more input on how to spend about $12 million of the $24 million already in the stadium's existing capital improvement fund, which is set by the stadium lease and fed by the existing Cuyahoga County tax on alcohol and cigarette sales, known as a sin tax. In exchange for having input on the capital repairs fund, the Browns will allow the city to reduce its payments to the fund in the final years of the lease.

Their "improvement capital fund" does not come anywhere near covering these improvements. Once again, who picks up the tab if Haslam defaults?


Those payments, however, balloon toward the end of the lease – increasing from $850,000 a year to more than $5 million in the last five years. And the sin tax will expire in 2015 if voters do not approve an extension, leaving the city’s general fund to pick up that tab.

What if this awful sin tax does not get passed again? Who will pick up the tab then? I will guess new taxes to offset this cost?


Visit the comments section below beginning at 9:30 a.m., when council will debate the issue. Council also is expected to vote on legislation related to Cuyahoga County's convention center hotel.

Just some questions for those who are in favor.

 

[Pyro]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Vote passes 13-5. Polencek, Cornwell, Cummins, Jeff Johnson and Brady vote no.</p>&mdash; Joe Lull (@LullOnSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/LullOnSports/statuses/405145575307608064">November 26, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Surge]

The Browns can add to the game day experience by scoring more points, dammit.

 

[Binkster]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Vote passes 13-5. Polencek, Cornwell, Cummins, Jeff Johnson and Brady vote no.</p>— Joe Lull (@LullOnSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/LullOnSports/statuses/405145575307608064">November 26, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[WellYouNeednt]

Once again - why/how are they saving the city money?

 

[WellYouNeednt]

So these jackasses are essentially saying no to an agreement that will actually reduce the amount of money that the city owes to the team and are holding out for... What exactly? A better deal that very likely will never come along?

They are going to lock themselves into a worse lease just to spite the local football franchise for some reason unbeknownst to me... Or at least that's how it looks unless somebody can provide a better explanation.

Offering to [maybe] save money on a previously terrible agreement is not saving money. To me, its sounds like The City of Cleveland just refinanced on a shitty mortgage they could not already afford in the first place.

Thank God i dont live in Cleveland anymore. Enjoy your new mortgage on a shitty NF team Cleveland!









(i still love the Browns)

 

[Binkster]

The Browns can add to the game day experience by scoring more points, dammit.

Such a stupid comment. By that logic, the Niners should continue playing in the NFL's butt hole because they put a winning product on the field? Or rather, they do deserve structural renovations or improvements to its venue because they are more "watchable?"

Idiotic logic. This expands beyond the bounds of football. First Energy Stadium is Cleveland's asset and its responsibility.

 

[WellYouNeednt]

Such a stupid comment. By that logic, the Niners should continue playing in the NFL's butt hole because they put a winning product on the field? Or rather, they do deserve structural renovations or improvements to its venue because they are more "watchable?"

Idiotic logic. This expands beyond the bounds of football. First Energy Stadium is Cleveland's asset and its responsibility.

How is that stupid? Once again, why are the people responsible to pay for these close to billion dollar stadiums? Cleveland's asset? Yeah, a negative asset, just like all the other shitty deals your city brokered. I dont know if you realize this, but Cleveland is broke! All they are doing is perpetuating more and more debt - just redirected into another tax on the people. When will the sheep realize you and your kids are paying for this asset.

 

[Surge]

Such a stupid comment. By that logic, the Niners should continue playing in the NFL's butt hole because they put a winning product on the field? Or rather, they do deserve structural renovations or improvements to its venue because they are more "watchable?"

Idiotic logic. This expands beyond the bounds of football. First Energy Stadium is Cleveland's asset and its responsibility.

Point is, I as a fan don't give a shit about the stadium. If they are WINNING, fans will be more apt to go to the game over if the stadium/area is "nice."

I went to the shithole Municipal Stadium for YEARS when the team was competitive and didn't care about pissing in the troughs because Eric Turner was cracking skulls.

I don't care about the taxpayer part, because I currently don't live in the area. If the Browns were ever just threatening to make the playoffs, that current stadium and area would be rocking.

 

[Soda]

One thing I'm not doing is getting into a semantics-fest with BigMar regarding the taxation of citizens.

The City is responsible for their own property. If this deal doesn't go through, the money in their capital fund goes to the stadium, which will achieve less and cost more. The Browns are paying for 80% of the improvements on the City's property.

 

[WellYouNeednt]

Binkster, this is all in good fun.




















































































You know i still love you.

 

[Binkster]

How is that stupid? Once again, why are the people responsible to pay for these close to billion dollar stadiums? Cleveland's asset? Yeah, a negative asset, just like all the other shitty deals your city brokered. I dont know if you realize this, but Cleveland is broke! All they are doing is perpetuating more and more debt - just redirected into another tax on the people. When will the sheep realize you and your kids are paying for this asset.

You sure seem awfully knowledgeable about the fiscal standing of a city you no longer live in. I'd love to see your sources.

And why are the people responsible? Probably because they rushed an agreement 15 years ago that contractually ties us to that responsibility.

This negative asset as you so eloquently put it... We should just cut our losses now, strip the funding of any/all future renovations, and allow it to deteriorate back to its natural state?

Want to know how that'll go? Bye bye NFL team and bye bye revenue.

This city collects $570,000 in parking revenue from Browns' games, alone.

They will collect $3.5 - 4 million dollars in admission tax from tickets sold for Browns' games.

Not to mention the amount of money that downtown businesses generate on game day. But you're right... Why fund our money pit on the lake?

 

[Binkster]

Point is, I as a fan don't give a shit about the stadium. If they are WINNING, fans will be more apt to go to the game over if the stadium/area is "nice."

I went to the shithole Municipal Stadium for YEARS when the team was competitive and didn't care about pissing in the troughs because Eric Turner was cracking skulls.

I don't care about the taxpayer part, because I currently don't live in the area. If the Browns were ever just threatening to make the playoffs, that current stadium and area would be rocking.

You didn't mind that Municipal was a shithole, yet I can guarantee you weren't happy when the team was relocated because Baltimore offered to build a "first class stadium" and we didn't.

 

[Surge]

You didn't mind that Municipal was a shithole, yet I can guarantee you weren't happy when the team was relocated because Baltimore offered to build a "first class stadium" and we didn't.

I believe that situation was unique in that the Indians had just moved out of the stadium, thus not making Modell the money from the suites during the summer. Modell made money off the stadium year-round in exchange for rent, mind you.

Form Wiki:

Financial problems eventually led to Modell moving the Browns. In 1994, the Indians prevailed upon the local governments and voters and convinced them to build them their own facility where they controlled the suite revenue.[3][4] Modell, mistakenly believing that his revenues were not endangered, refused to participate in the Gateway Project that built Jacobs Field (now known as Progressive Field) for the Indians and Gund Arena (now known as Quicken Loans Arena) for the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers.[5] Modell's assumptions proved incorrect, and Stadium Corp's suite revenues declined sharply when the Indians moved from the stadium to Jacobs Field in 1994.[4] Soaring player costs and deficits also contributed to Modell's financial losses. Modell lost $21 million between 1993 and 1994.[6]

These two situations are not the same to me. The Browns move had about as much to do with Modell's poor business decisions as much as anything else.