COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is trying to sack lawmakers' plans to give $600 million to the Cleveland Browns by issuing bonds for the construction of their new stadium. In a draft amendment to the state budget, the team that only won three games last season would be handed millions of taxpayer dollars.
The Browns are one step closer to getting their new $2.4 billion stadium construction project into the end zone.
"Six-hundred million of it is money that would be made available to the people who are building this thing, and then the bond payers would be paid back over 30 years," House Speaker Matt Huffman said.
In a proposal first reported by the Statehouse News Bureau and obtained by News 5, an 18-page amendment would provide the money to the Haslam Sports Group.
To authorize that, Republicans also propose changing state law to allow lawmakers to give more money for pro-sports projects.
To help convince lawmakers they are serious, the Browns have offered $38 million upfront as collateral for the state.
"There's enough fiscal impacts or direct tax revenues to support the investment we're asking for," Browns attorney Ted Tywang said during his pitch to lawmakers in early March.
News 5 business growth and development reporter Michelle Jarboe and I have been doing team coverage of the Browns Stadium proposal. Click hereto learn more about what the new stadium district would encompass.
The war of words between the Browns and the City of Cleveland has heated up over the last week.
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But the governor is trying to block the budget amendment. He is doubling down on his plan to solve both issues. He would raise the sports betting tax for the sportsbooks, creating a fund for all professional sports teams to get money from in the future.
"It's going to enable us to support professional teams, minor leagues, major leagues," DeWine told me Friday. "But at the same time, not take money away from education."
Huffman has threatened to slash at least $650 million in public education spending, saying the state doesn’t have the budget for it and the millions the schools believe they were promised this General Assembly is "unsustainable."
For a further in-depth recap of education funding, click here.
I’ve asked him about giving $600 million to a private sports team owned by a multi-billionaire versus fully funding schools.
Because Huffman filibustered the first time I asked the question, the next time I saw him, I asked again.
"Well, I don't think there is $600 million right now for a stadium, but if what you're asking me is if you're trying to compare those two things, they're not comparable," Huffman said.
I asked for clarification from his team after Huffman said there isn't $600 million right now. They explained that he meant the state would be borrowing the millions. That's true, but the state would still need to pay that money back — with interest.
DeWine said that they are directly comparable, and he is worried that more requests could come in soon. The Cincinnati Bengals are working on a $1.25 billion stadium renovation as their lease expires next year.
"We can't really afford to continue to put money in sports stadiums out of a general fund," DeWine told me Monday. "There's not enough money there."
He emphasized the point that the state would be taking money away from education, kids and mental health services.
I asked if we should be giving taxpayer dollars to billionaires. The governor said that under both GOP and Democratic leadership, Ohio has always contributed some money to professional sports.
"My guess is that that will continue," he said. "The question is, do you take that from the taxpayers or do you take it from the people who run the gambling operations in the state of Ohio? It seems to me we ought to take it from them."
When it comes to the financial impact this would leave, he emphasized that by the end of this process, it would be "about a billion dollars of tax dollars directly out of the general fund."
On Friday, I asked DeWine if he would veto the provision if it made its way into the budget.
"Well, I'm hoping that they're not gonna do that," the governor replied.
Lawmakers are set to debate the plan over the coming weeks.
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