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At least the Browns have their priorities straight.

Push to build Cleveland Browns training center resurrected in Columbus
By Rick Rouan
The Columbus Dispatch • Thursday December 8, 2016 10:45 AM

The City of Columbus is working with the Cleveland Browns on a deal to build a new recreation center at Tuttle Park that would host part of the NFL team's training camp during the summer.

Under the current proposal, said Tony Collins, Columbus' director of recreation and parks, the Browns would contribute $5 million, Franklin County would contribute $5 million and the city would cover the rest of the cost of the recreation center, estimated at $15 million to $17 million.

A similar proposal last year died after a request for state aid was withdrawn.

The Browns training camp is expected to come to Columbus in 2018.

The new recreation center would be 45,000 square feet and include a gymnasium, a fitness center, art rooms and meeting space, among other amenities. It also would have three outdoor fields where the Browns would practice in the summer, two of which would be natural grass and one artificial turf. Those fields would be used for other community activities the rest of the year.

Tuttle Park is on the North Side just north of the Ohio State University Campus.

Article

I might be in the minority here in Cleveland, but I like this idea. And the key phrase in the article is "part of traning camp". Not all of it.

I like the idea of growing the Columbus market in terms of Browns' fandom. Not that this would happen in the near future, but the Cleveland area has declined in terms of population. Clearly the NFL has expansion on it's mind with games in both London and Mexico. Claiming a larger footprint in terms of organizational reach/territory to areas like Akron-Canton, and hopefully now, Columbus would go a long way toward security, IMO.

Columbus is a rapidly growing area in Ohio....The Browns having a larger presence there makes sense on many levels.

Wining games makes sense ! You are not going to sell more tickets with PR Crap !

The primary focus has always been a little backwards.

hopefully they still offer a few dates (maybe a week) in Berea ... always enjoy going there

I never quite understood why the "city" aka tax payers money can be allocated towards paying for stuff like this.

They want to put it in Tuttle Park? Sounds crazy to me.

Cleveland Browns statement on future training camp site:


"As we have consistently conveyed, based on our football operation’s desires for training camp, we are considering various locations. Representatives have approached us about looking into different options, and currently, we are exploring an opportunity in Columbus, which would include a financial contribution from the team towards a community-based recreational facility. Throughout these discussions, we are focused on three core areas: 1. Creating the ideal environment for our players and coaches to prepare for the NFL season, 2. Ensuring that we can invest in and help create positive opportunities for youth in that community during the 11 months a year when the Browns are not practicing at the proposed location and 3. Creating special experiences for all Browns fans to interact with our team, including by continuing to host open sessions at our facility in Berea for fans in Northeast Ohio, above and beyond available training camp days. We will continue to diligently evaluate all options and will place great weight on each of these priorities while remaining committed to our year-round facility in Berea.”

http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/...7-ce46056c089b

Technically the city will own it and the browns will rent it 4 weeks a year.

I mean if the city was going to build something like this anyway, it's a good move for they city to get a free $5 mil.

Much Closer to Me

We are so, so good at marketing our product.

How is the city and Franklin County going to come up w/$5 to $7 million each?

The Browns are so slimy.

That's what I was thinking... The city would own it and lease out to events like concerts, sports teams, Browns, etc...

All you guys crying just stop. Sending our boys down here to start their season in a WINNING atmosphere could prove to serve them very well.

Columbus it improving its infrastructure - while getting the Browns to pay part of the bill AND an NFL training camp increases the city's profile. Smart move.

The Browns could build it and own it and lease it back to the city/county when they want to use it.. it would be a lot more expensive.

$5 million for a county the size of Franklin isn't that big of a deal.

Nobody is crying, chief. At the end of the day, nobody is going to lose sleep on missing an 0-16 team's training camp.

I believe this sums up the overarching point.

The city has to pay that amount, as well.

And do you know what would be less expensive? Stay in Berea.


The Browns don't want to spend the money to keep a guy like Schwartz or Gipson, but they spend $5 million on a marketing ploy. It's not about winning games. It's about marketing.

Sorry DC, but some homers apologizing for every move the Browns make isn't going to take the sleaze off of the organization.

Even thought Columbus and Franklin County will get some use out of it the reason it is to be built is for the Browns so with that being the said I think the Browns should be paying for all or at least most of it.

Figures its in Dublin, it is pretty easy right off 270 only 15 min from me Grove City and only 10 min from north subs. Only 3 exits from the 270/ 70 split

It's stomach turning to watch them play a real game so I wouldn't miss anything during the preseason.

The only thing this organization has is a fan base and if they totally tick them off...

It's not in Dublin. It's practically touching OSU Campus. Between 315N and 71N.

BUH HUMBUG

I Think I made my feeling pretty well known the last time the Browns brought up this foul smelling bull sheet, crap munching idea.

Anything that is closer to Ohio State is a bonus. Maybe some of their winning ways will rub off. Looking for any winning atmosphere.

Simple. It turns in to more money over the long haul. People who attend a practice usually at least eat somthing while there. Many will make it a weekend and spend a Saturday night in a hotel.

The Browns want to claim Columbus as their market just as Cincy claims northern Kentucky and Dayton as theirs.

I wonder if they're trying to tap into that market in order to get younger generations interested. Columbus is a HUGE city too. It's not LA, NYC or Chicago, but it's got a nice size population.

Yeah, but I'm not sure how destroying a great park for their mediocre ways is going to bring the local population to respecting them more.

UPDATE...UPDATE...UPDATE...UPDATE...


Browns back out of plans to move training camp to Columbus by 2018


By Mary Kay Cabot, cleveland.com
Follow on Twitter
on December 28, 2016 at 4:45 PM, updated December 28, 2016 at 5:07 PM
link

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- First, Browns fans got a victory. Now, they've got training camp back in Berea.

It's enough to make them chant OH-IO!

On Wednesday, the Browns scrapped plans to move most of training camp to Columbus by 2018.

"After evaluating all aspects and conversations about potential training camp sites, we have decided to keep training camp in Berea for the immediate future,'' Browns spokesman Peter John-Baptiste said in a release. "While we greatly appreciate the efforts of and our discussions with representatives from the City of Columbus, Franklin County and Ohio State University, we believe it is best for our football team, our organizational goals and our fans to continue to host training camp in Northeast Ohio."

The Columbus Dispatch first reported the the Browns were backing out.

The Browns and Franklin County were each set to contribute $5 million, with the city of Columbus footing the rest of the $15 million to $17 million bill.

The Browns, in the midst of a 1-14 season with the finale in Pittsburgh on Sunday, want to focus on making camp the best it can be for fans at their Berea facility, which underwent a $15 million renovation this year. They know it will be a huge undertaking from a logistics standpoint, and now didn't feel like the right time.

When the deal was first announced Dec. 8, coach Hue Jackson also stressed that he wanted to put Northeast Ohio fans first.

"I like the bonding opportunities of going away and being together in a different environment because you really have to focus on each other and depend on each other a little bit more,'' he said. "At the same time, I do get that being here has been a tremendous opportunity, too.

"We're going to do anything and everything that we can to make sure that our fans here get an opportunity to still be able to see this football team and touch this team. If that's the case, I'm not opposed to doing it.

"At the same time, I want to make sure that we do right by the people here because they have done a great job of being here at practice. I know what practice has been like here, and they have been outstanding. I know Dee and Jimmy (Haslam) will do everything they can to make sure that the fans still have an opportunity here to be around this football team."

If all went as planned, the Browns would've held about three weeks of camp in Columbus and about a week in Berea so Northeast Ohio fans could continue to attend. The Browns also would have opened other practices to fans, such as a day of rookie minicamp, possibly at FirstEnergy Stadium again.

But those plans are on hold, at least for the foreseeable future.

Yay! Tuttle Park is too nice to put a bunch of private complexes on top of it.

Okay................so, is this complex still going to be built? If so, are the Browns still giving $5 million to help w/the cost or are they stiffing the city of Columbus and Franklin County?

LOL...............Haslam has to be the shadiest owner in sports since Ted Stepien.

Donald Sterling?

He was just creepy.