The people of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have given a lot to the Haslam family. They should not be held responsible for more.
D’Onta Foreman speaks to the media about his injury and his preseason debut with the Browns
D’Onta Foreman suffered a neck injury during Cleveland Browns training camp on August 1, but made his preseason debut with the team on Saturday.
State Senator Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) represents Ohio’s 25th Senate District, which includes areas of Franklin County including Clintonville, Upper Arlington, Grandview Heights, South Linden, Italian Village, Victorian Village, Ohio State University and Northland.
First, I’ll admit that I’ve been a lifelong Cleveland Browns fan. I had season tickets from when I was in high school until the day the original Browns left town because of the greedy previous owner.
Earlier this month, the current owners of the Browns came to the city of Cleveland and asked for a handout. Although Cleveland Browns Stadium opened in 1999, the Haslams, who also own the Columbus Crew and co-own the Milwaukee Bucks, decided the stadium wasn’t good enough.
After negotiations and budget adjustments, the city of Cleveland came back with an offer saying it could provide $426 million, almost half the total cost of a complete renovation of the current stadium.
Jimmy Haslam replied that it was not good enough.
Instead, the owners are asking the Cleveland City Council, Cuyahoga County and the State of Ohio to provide over a billion dollars in taxpayer money to build a new stadium, which, however, is not even in Cleveland, but 13 miles away in Brook Park.
This latest demand comes on top of the $243 million that Cuyahoga County taxpayers have already paid the Browns since 2010. The Browns cost county taxpayers money every time someone buys alcohol or tobacco and collects a contempt tax, and every time someone parks and collects a parking fee. In addition, they drain $2 million each year from the state’s general fund, which is largely funded by the city’s income tax.
The people of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have given a lot to the Haslam family. They should not be held responsible for more.
Cities must stop giving our tax money to billion-dollar corporations
This problem is not unique to Cleveland.
In Columbus, we did the same thing, giving the Haslams $200 million so the Columbus Crew could get a brand new stadium. For decades, local and state governments across the United States have donated billions to support the private families or corporations that own our sports teams.
I understand the inclination of elected officials to fund these projects. Professional sports teams not only generate millions in revenue for their host cities through ticket sales, restaurants and hotel bookings, but they also foster a sense of community and excitement.
But ultimately, governments have an even greater responsibility: they must provide their populations with goods and services reliably and effectively.
How many children could get a free breakfast and lunch every day for a billion dollars?
How many affordable homes could have been built? How many caregivers, child care workers, teachers, professors, nurses or psychologists could have been trained, hired and paid a living wage?
We as elected officials need to stop bending the knee to these billionaires every time they want a fancy new stadium.
The owners of these sports teams make millions in revenue, so if they decide that a renovation or a new stadium is needed, they should do it themselves instead of always hoping for handouts from the government.
State Senator Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) represents Ohio’s 25th Senate District, which includes areas of Franklin County including Clintonville, Upper Arlington, Grandview Heights, South Linden, Italian Village, Victorian Village, Ohio State University and Northland.
