CLEVELAND — Picture this.
It’s 11 a.m. Sunday, the Cleveland Browns are playing at home, and you and your friends make your way to The Flats to get your tailgate on.
That’s when you all decide to check out the bars and restaurants like Anejo before kickoff at 1 p.m., where you find other Browns fans at Brian Gresham’s spot, excited for the big game.
But now, Gresham said he fears all the fun he’s used to having on Sundays will change once the Browns head to Brook Park.
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb announced the team's departure Thursday afternoon.
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Even more devastating, he said it’ll be a big loss to Anejo.
“As a business owner, we’ve done very well down here with tailgating and the eight games that we get have been very good for us. We love the Browns, and I guess it’s not as bad as the first time when they moved to Baltimore, but it’s a gut punch,” said Gresham, who owns Anejo restaurant.
Other business owners like Laurie Torres at Mallorca on West 9th Street said she gets a lot of foot traffic before and after games, so she said this move will impact her business, too.
“It’s very disappointing. It really is very disappointing,” said Torres. “This is just a further signal from the team that we’ve supported for 30 years that they don’t support the urban center either.”
Ohio Hotel and Lodging Association President and CEO Joe Savarise said hotels within the city are also concerned about the larger impact on Downtown businesses like Mallorca and Anejo.
But at this time, he said hotels within the city will still generate business.
“You can’t replicate the hotel infrastructure that we have in Downtown Cleveland in a place like Brook Park, not now. And, it will be many decades before you could even begin to replicate some of the amenities that we have within hotels within the city,” said Savarise.
“We’re going to suffer. We’re going to have problems. But we’ll survive,” said Gresham.
