Airspace trouble could threaten Browns’ new $2.4 billion suburban stadium

The Cleveland Browns' contentious battle to build their new suburban stadium took another turbulent twist Tuesday

when the Ohio Department of Transportation refused to issue a permit over concerns about air traffic at nearby Cleveland Hopkins International Airport

The $2.4 billion dome stadium plan submitted by the Haslam Sports Group is expected to top out at a height of 221 feet

That's 58 feet higher than the maximum allowed for that location, according to ODOT's aviation office

The Browns said they're working with ODOT to resolve the issue, but they're confused by the ruling since the Federal Aviation Administration had already approved the stadium plan as long as there are red lights on the roof to guide pilots

In July, team owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam told reporters they were confident the stadium at Brook Park would go forward despite complications

We're very confident and very excited about it. We can't be more confident

Let me say, these projects are really hard, okay, and the state's a hurdle

You know, there's other hurdles. You've got to work with DOT and rapid transit. You've got to get your financing

You've got to control costs. These are big, complicated projects. Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and other city officials are upset the team is planning to leave downtown

But the two sides couldn come to an agreement on how much money the city could provide to keep the team The Haslams took their request to the state legislature and were approved Team COO David Jenkins said last month everyone will benefit from the deal Half

of that we're proposing comes from us plus the overrun so $1.2 billion of private funding

The other half we've asked all along has been $600 million from the state which was granted on

June 30th within the state's budget. They're calling that a performance grant. The key to

That $600 million is we're going to generate over $3 billion of tax revenues over the 30-year life of the lease

It's a familiar scenario to those we've covered recently, including Major League Baseball's athletics

who will receive $380 million in state funds as they build in Las Vegas

The Washington Commanders recently announced a stadium deal with the city that'll see D.C. pitch in $1.1 billion in investments

And in Illinois, the Bears are still over $500 million in debt to the city after renovating Soldier Field in 2003

but they're looking for the state to approve favorable tax legislation for their Arlington Heights project

Stadium projects for the Tennessee Titans in Nashville and the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, New York

which are well underway, are also receiving substantial state funding. The Browns are appealing the permit denial by ODOT, and they aim to break ground on their stadium project next year

hoping it'll open before the 2028 season. For Straight Aero News, I'm Chris Francis