NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has teased the prospect of Cleveland hosting its first Super Bowl after watching the Browns break ground on their new $2.4billion stadium.
Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and his family marked a significant milestone on Thursday with the groundbreaking ceremony for the new domed stadium scheduled to open for the 2029 season.
There are still a couple of questions to be answered though even as construction commences on the 67,500-capacity facility, which will be next to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and about 15 miles south of downtown Cleveland.
Goodell said after the ground breaking that the stadium will certainly be Super Bowl caliber, but the Northeast Ohio area has other issues to contend with, including lack of hotel space needed for a Super Bowl.
Goodell estimated that Cleveland has only half the rooms needed at a minimum to host it.
He, however, did say that Cleveland is in the running to host the NFL Draft again. It did in 2021, but that was when COVID restrictions were still in place, which limited capacity.
Roger Goodell has teased the prospect of Cleveland hosting its first Super Bowl in the future
The Browns officially broke ground on their new $2.4billion stadium at a ceremony Thursday
‘I think the real challenge is going to be how transformational this is here. The airport is important for us, hotels are important for us. All of the facilities are the biggest challenge for hosting a Super Bowl,’ Goodell said.
‘It’s great for economic impact, but it´s hard for cities to be able to meet some of those requirements on the facilities. So that´s the biggest challenge.’
The Browns are also part of a mini stadium building boom. Buffalo’s new facility opens this year, Tennessee’s next year and Jacksonville’s renovated stadium in 2028, meaning competition is higher than ever to land the NFL’s biggest game.
Haslam said stadium discussions began in 2018, which originally centered on renovating the Browns current lakefront stadium Huntington Bank Field.
That venue opened in 1999 as Cleveland Browns Stadium. It replaced Cleveland Municipal Stadium, which was in operation from 1931 until its demolition in 1996.
The idea to turn to another site started to form in 2021 when it made sense to build a new facility instead of renovating
The new stadium, as well as residential and other mixed-use development, will sit on 178 acres that once had two Ford Motor Company plants. Because the new stadium is next to an airport, it will sit 80 feet below ground and 221 feet above ground.
The Ohio Department of Transportation waived the height limit, which is 150 feet above the airport’s ground elevation, after an independent consultant determined that construction of the stadium would not change any flight paths. The building will have marking and lighting required by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The new Dawg Pound will be built at a 34-degree pitch and extend to more than 60 rows
The stadium will feature a folded plate transparent roof, allowing plenty of sunlight to come in
Nearly 80 per cent of seats will be in the lower deck in a bid to create a deafening atmosphere
‘It was a bumpy road to get here, but we’re excited we’re here,’ Haslam said. ‘I think everybody is finally beginning to sense that this is reality.’
The stadium will feature a folded plate transparent roof, allowing plenty of sunlight to come in, but shielding fans from the cold temperatures that are a late-season trademark of Browns home games.
The most notable feature inside will be the new Dawg Pound. It will be built at a 34-degree pitch and extend more than 60 rows to just beneath one of the giant video scoreboards. It is designed to be free standing, but there will be seats that can be folded out if fans want to sit.
The section will have the feel of many European soccer stadiums and takes it cue from the ‘Yellow Wall’ section at Borussia Dortmund’s stadium in Germany’s Bundesliga.
The Browns and stadium designer HKS also say the first row will be 16 feet from the field and the last only 248 feet, which will be closer than any other NFL stadium. Nearly 80 per cent of the seats will also be in the lower deck.
The new stadium is expected to be in the running for the NCAA Men’s Final Four, premier concerts and other sporting events.
