On Thursday November 13th the Chief Operating Officer David Jenkins of the Haslam Sports Group publicly revealed the funding plan for the $2.4 billion dollar dome stadium project. As I have reported before $1.2 billion is privately funded for the facility. The Haslam Sports Group reveled the rest of their financial plan to the public.

The rest of the $1.2 billion dollars is expected to be raised by bonds leveraged by the state of Ohio, Cuyahoga County, the city of Brookpark. These bonds will be paid back by usage taxes on the multipurpose facilities and the use of new Huntington Bank Field. The plan is based on the revenue projections by the Haslam Sports Group. However, the Governor of Ohio Mike DeWine has a financing plan of his own.

The week prior to the Haslam Sports Group release of their financial plan, Governor Mike DeWine proposed an increase of the state of Ohio Gaming / Gambling tax from 20% to 40%. The tax revenue generated from this proposal is expected to pay for professional sports arenas and stadiums throughout the state of Ohio and youth sports programs. This solution is also expected to help the Cincinnati Bengals get the money needed update their home stadium Paycor Stadium.  Governor DeWine would need to get the proposal passed through the state legislature first and foremost. The plan has already met some resistance in the Ohio State General Assembly. But with dueling financial plans which plan will be implemented?

Currently the Haslam Sports Group are in negotiations with city, county, and state officials. The State of Ohio releases its budget every other year. The budget for the state of Ohio is due to be released on June 30th. That is the date Cleveland Browns fans will know how this facility will be paid for. Also, Jenkins said that they expect shovels to be on the ground in quarter one of 2026 and the stadium will be ready to open at the start of the 2029 season. No longer are the questions of if this is happening or when is this happening, the only question left to be answered is how this is happening? And in northeast Ohio a new stadium question was long overdue for an answer.