DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Haslam Brook Park Stadium Proposal

Mayor Bibb is such a clown.

I’d like to see the details and what strings were attached.

Agreed, however (as Milk stated) we don't know the $$ amount or any additional terms.

Yet the stadium was built for a team owned by Lerner. Haslam really has no obligation to give them so much as a penny as long as he honors the terms of the lease. Looking a gift horse in the mouth on the part of the mayor is just stupid.

j/c…

I’m surprised that wasn’t something contemplated by the team when applying for the permit, considering the proximity to the airport.

Either way, I’m sure they’ll work it out.

While I won't add my opinion about whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, when a billionaire is involved on a major deal like this involving billions over the long run, the vast majority of the time things gets worked out.

I thought that was the reason it was built a little bit lower? It will get ironed out I'm $ure

I'm sure they will probably just go down a little bit further as that was the purpose of digging down.

I didn't read the report - how low does the stadium have to be?

Something like 56 feet lower

The plans had the stadium being built 80’ below grade. According, to ODOT they will need to be 58’ lower. Digging down 138’ below grade seems wild. That alone would significantly increase costs I would suspect.

It is also interesting considering the FAA already cleared it. Haslam worked closely with them to be in compliance.

That's probably correct. I don't know if that's right however. Shouldn't be that because you got money, they bend the rules..

By the way, there is one section of the new facility that is 58 Ft too tall. In the grand scheme of things, that's not that hard to adjust.

ODOT just wants their palms greased like the boys at the Statehouse down in Columbus!

Here are some more details from neo-trans blog. I remain amazed at how Ken Pendergrast is always the first to have the scoop on anything real estate related in the city.

ODOT said the Haslams can also resubmit for a new application with a shorter stadium and/or one built farther from the airport. As planned, the lowest level of the new Huntington Bank Field would be built 80 feet into the ground.

Or it could trade places with a stadium village and entertainment district proposed farther from the airport on a large, vacant site on Snow Road at Interstate 71. An HSG affiliate paid $76 million in June for 179 acres of a former Ford auto plant.

The ODOT-Aviation letter, citing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, describes the limitation stemming from the enclosed stadium’s placement and height within an arc beyond the end of the airport’s east-west Runway 10/28. This runway is used by commercial aircraft however infrequently, depending on unique wind conditions.

“A horizontal plane 150 feet above the established airport elevation, the perimeter of which is constructed by swinging arcs of a specified radii from the center of each end of the primary surface of each runway of each airport and connecting the adjacent arcs by lines tangent to those arcs,” the letter continues. “The proposed structure exceeds this protected surface at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Cleveland Ohio by 58 feet at the highest point.”

ODOT-Aviation said that if the proposed structure at this location were reduced in height by a specific amount, it would not be considered an obstruction to air navigation. “Please contact our office to request a permit at these reduced heights,” ODOT-Aviation said.

The stadium may also be permitted at the proposed height at another location further away from the airport. “If you want to change the location of the proposed structure, you will need to file a new 7460-1 Notice of Proposed Construction with the FAA,” the letter said.

https://neo-trans.blog/2025/08/15/new-browns-stadium-denied-odot-aviation-permit/

Pendergrast is the best! I follow his blog regularly.

At some point you hit groundwater and things get real costly.

The Feds approved the plans ..... but the state doesn't? Weird.

In May, the FAA concluded that the proposed stadium would exceed federal obstruction standards, as the ODOT letter noted.

However, the agency determined that exceeding those standards “is in itself not sufficient grounds for issuance of a determination of hazard to air navigation.” Building the stadium as planned “would have no substantial adverse effect” on aircraft or air navigation facilities so long as illuminated red lights are placed atop the stadium, the FAA concluded.

The FAA determination letter also stated that there were negotiations to lower the height of the proposed stadium, but they were unsuccessful.

Quinn noted in his letter that ODOT’s aviation division had previously sent him six letters giving written approval for mobile cranes to construct the proposed stadium.

Quinn also wrote that he was “puzzled” by ODOT’s rejection of a “permit application,” as the team “made no such application.”

Local politics. ODOT might feel butt chapped, feeling an end run was made and they weren't consulted and or a few Clevelanders are high up with ODOT and want to create a stink.