Takeaways from the ground-breaking ceremony of new Huntington Bank Field in Brook Park …
The formal ground-breaking ceremony brought out a who’s who of Northeast Ohio movers and shakers, politicians, NFL dignitaries, Browns current players and alums, and Browns Backers club members from outlying states and Canada, too.
There was the Haslam family, of course; and Browns GM Andrew Berry, still beaming from his highly acclaimed draft; coach Todd Monken, fourth-quarter hoarse, as usual; Denzel Ward, and Carson Schwesinger.
There was Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell; executives from Dallas-based HKS Architects, who designed the $2.6 billion, mostly underground roofed stadium; and David Gilbert, CEO of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, whose skills as a sports event recruiter figure prominently with the advent of the state of Ohio’s first, world-class covered stadium.
There was bearded Joe Thomas in his Pro Football Hall of Fame Gold Jacket; and Bernie Kosar, positively ebullient after his recent liver transplant; Macho Fan; and John “Big Dawg” Thompson, sans mask, one of a half-dozen invitees to pitch dirt from guitar-themed shovels onto a small-scale model of the ersatz field.
All of them were gathered under a huge tent, under which a string quartet provided soothing background music and hors d’oeuvres and drinks were served on a parcel of land that will some day sprout a hotel a bit west of the stadium site.
Conspicuously absent from the jubilant proceedings was the NFL’s best player and face of the franchise, one Myles Garrett.
Make of that what you will.
(Didn’t see Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, either.)
What’s up, Commish?
Cleveland remains the only market in the NFL never to appear in, or host, one of the 60 Super Bowls.
American professional sports’ biggest event has been “awarded” to non-glamorous locales such as Detroit twice, Minneapolis twice, Indianapolis and Jacksonville. It is expected to be granted in the near future to new stadiums in Nashville and Washington D.C.
So the natural question asked of Goodell was: What about Cleveland?
“The stadium is clearly going to be suitable for a Super Bowl,” Goodell said in a media session after the ceremony. “I think the real challenge is going to be how transformational this is here. The airport is important for us. Hotels are important for us. All of the facilities are the biggest challenge for us.
“We have probably close to two hundred thousand people who attend a Super Bowl. It’s great for economic impact. But it’s hard for cities to be able to meet some of those requirements.”
Goodell said many of the regular Super Bowl host cities (New Orleans, South Florida, Los Angeles) have in excess of 60,000 hotel rooms. He said the lowest number of rooms for a Super Bowl site was in the “high forties.”
“I don’t know what the number is here, but I think it’s about half, roughly,” Goodell said.
He then challenged Northeast Ohio to pick up the pace — and build.
“There’s a chance here for this [stadium] to be the transformational type of project that converts more events that people come to, and hotels start to develop, the airport expands, and you get that kind of infrastructure [capable of hosting a Super Bowl].”
Haslam said, “It’s hard for you’all to understand the huge production the Super Bowl is. You need lots of hotels, lots of restaurants, lots of convention space, lots of meeting rooms. Could Cleveland do that? Yes. Are we there right now? No. But I hope this [project] will be a transformation moving for the city.”
Goodell did throw the region a bone, though. He said he would be willing to stage another NFL draft in Cleveland.
“The draft was here in 2021 under difficult circumstances [following the COVID pandemic],” Goodell said to the audience. “It was not the event we expected but we were able to pull it off. We look forward to coming back here soon for another draft.”
The next NFL draft is scheduled to be held in Washington D.C. Minneapolis could be after that in 2028. New Huntington Bank Field is scheduled to open in 2029, which could serve to lure back the NFL draft for a bigger celebration than what Cleveland provided in 2021 on the lakefront.
“We haven’t decided [when] yet,” Goodell said in his media session. “But my guess is it will be sometime in that period.”
‘You bet your ass’
The ceremony consisted of three brief panel discussions on a stage.
The first included managing partners J.W. Johnson, Whitney Haslam Johnson, and Dave Jenkins, Haslam Sports Group president. The second featured Jimmy Haslam, Goodell and DeWine. The third was probably the most popular. It included Berry, Monken, Ward and Schwesinger, and was moderated by Thomas.
The first panel highlighted the unique features of the stadium, which includes a 6,500-seat Dawg Pound section that will be the steepest of any NFL stadium, giving the fans an ominous presence hovering an end zone. The opposing team will enter the field from a tunnel adjacent to the Dawg Pound, which is intended to intimidate opponents from the start.
In Thomas’ Q&A, Monken said, “When you’ve already got some of the most loyal and passionate fans across all professional sports, and then put them right on top of the playing surface, that’s intimidating within itself. And the Dawg Pound, being right there when the opposing team comes out of the tunnel … our players feed off our fans. Ultimately, they’re trying to create an environment where the opposing team is not only worried about the Browns and their players, [but also] the environment they got to play in.”
Thomas asked Monken if he could be counted on to jump into the present Dawg Pound in the event of his first home victory.
“You bet your ass,” Monken replied, to loud applause.
Sticker shock
Jimmy Haslam said the experience in the new stadium “will surpass everyone’s wildest dreams.” He said, “it’s going to be inside and feel like it’s outside.”
(That’s the exact thing I said upon my first visit to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA, which was also designed by HKS Architects and sits mostly underground in the flight path to Los Angeles International Airport.)
There will be more than 10,000 parking spaces, in which tailgating can occur without having to walk a mile, as presently from the Muny Lot.
By the time the stadium opens in 2029, ticket prices will have naturally soared. Add a premium to that for the most modern conveniences afforded. The Haslams and Goodell predict the new stadium will take fan experience to “a whole new level.”
Haslam maintained, however, that fans will not be priced out of the new stadium.
“I can promise you we have talked as much about keeping ‘affordable seats’ in the new stadium, as much anything else,” Haslam said. “The Dawg Pound will have the exact same number of seats [as the present one], but it’s going to be a way, way better experience. We will have seats that are affordable, just like our seats are now. So [there’s been] heavy focus on making sure anybody that wants to, or almost anybody that wants to, comes to our games.”