So has anyone else heard this crazy rumour going around Cleveland about Haslem bringing in another owner?

darren15

I told the Haslam's not to tell anyone until my new box of checks arrived ...... darn

hoorta

@clevfan4life said:

So a week or so ago my brother in law told me he heard this rumour from some bigshots downtown. I didn't really pay attn to it till I heard it again last night from a well connected guy who works st Jones day.

So apparently haslem is in talks to bringnin another owner and it might be Gilbert. And Gilbert wants to build a new domed stadium around the steel yards. First energy would get torn down and the city will make a park there.

Has anyone else heard anything like this? If I hadn't heard it twice within 5 days from reputable sources I would scoff at the notion of tearing down first energy. That stadium is awesome and in a great place.

Haven't heard it, but I sure wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility. Those who might know (RIP, Stan would) can enlighten us if Gilbert has divested himself from his Casino businesses. That's a no-no for potential NFL owners. He certainly has the cash (according to Wiki a net worth of around $7 billion) to make it happen if Jimmuh wants to take him on board.

Building a new domed stadium with a current price tag of at least $1.5 billion? That's going to be tricky, because Cleveland sure doesn't have anywhere close to that kind of cash. If Haslam and Gilbert want to pool resources to do something like that, it wouldn't be out of the question as Carpetbagger Kroenke is putting up the majority of funds for the Rams & Chargers new Pleasure Palace. And that's a $2 billion project.

Regarding tearing down First Energy, seems the current shelf life of an NFL stadium is around 20-25 years. There was talk when FE was built that the Lakefront site could be put to far better use than something that would only be used a dozen or so times a year. Ha, regarding "awesome". As I've said before, my Bucket list is to see the Browns play in every NFL venue. The only "old" stadium that I'd put in the First Energy category is Arrowhead in KC. MHO is the newer places- like Lucas Oil in Indy, Ford Field in Detroit, Reliant in Houston, and yes even open air Paul Brown in Cinci are way, way awesomer. BTW, Houston never tore down the first domed stadium (The Astrodome)- it's still used for rodeos and such- and last fall I couldn't believe (they're right next to one another) how the Astrodome is completely dwarfed by Reliant. My biggest bitch about First Energy is when it was built, the plan was to keep the "feel" of the old place as closely as possible. The area behind the stands is sardine city compared to the newer places- they all have AT LEAST twice, and in many cases triple or more breathing room for the fans. When they did the remodel of FE, I was really surprised they didn't address that.

@darren15 said:

I told the Haslam's not to tell anyone until my new box of checks arrived ...... darn, Dan Gilbert

gumby73

1) How many days, weeks, months does your source have to debate Gipper of these findings? 2) Gipper won't be far behind this post wanting a link? 3) Good Luck !! ..

Clevfan4life

for the record I thought my bro in law was full of shit. I know he works at a big shot engineering firm downtown but I was like tear down FE after 20 years? But then hearing the "exact" same details from another unrelated guy who I know works downtown at Jones Day.....it was like wtf there's some truth to this shit? I don't want FE torn down. I like FE, if they were able to build a new stadium on the waterfront with maybe a partial or retractable dome and still keep the grass.....ok. But moving to the steelyards and putting a full dome up? nah...

The Gipper

@gumby73 said:

1) How many days, weeks, months does your source have to debate Gipper of these findings? 2) Gipper won't be far behind this post wanting a link? 3) Good Luck !! ..

Nope, the only thing I heard recently was that Haslam wanted to be a player in lakefront development.

And I provide my own link......this from just 4 days ago:

https://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/browns-are-committed-to-the-lakefront-and-7-other-things-we-learned-from-dee-and

The Gipper

This article is from about a year ago....does talk about Haslam being open to "all options"

http://realestate.cleveland.com/realestate-news/2018/05/cleveland_lakefront_developer_2.html

Zombo

Haslem just recently said they are going to stay where they are, continue to renovate the stadium and develop the area around the stadium.

He doesn't need another owner and he's too smart to do a dome.

Z

hoorta

Zombo said:

Haslem just recently said they are going to stay where they are, continue to renovate the stadium and develop the area around the stadium.

He doesn't need another owner and he's too smart to do a dome.

Z

And it's been said before- there's no way to put a roof on the FE, structure was never built for that. Sure, you can put a bubble over it, but then you've got massive heating\ AC issues to solve.

It should be possible to solve my gripe by building out say 50'-75' on the ground level, 500 level might be tricky- to give the fans more room, alleviate congestion before & after the games, and at halftime.

Z, regarding stadium upgrades, I'm not so sure Haslam wouldn't welcome the massive cash infusion Gilbert could bring as a minority owner. Regarding a dome, never say never.

nickers

I'll just say April Fool's Day!

The Gipper

@hoorta said:

And it's been said before- there's no way to put a roof on the FE, structure was never built for that. Sure, you can put a bubble over it, but then you've got massive heating\ AC issues to solve.

It should be possible to solve my gripe by building out say 50'-75' on the ground level, 500 level might be tricky- to give the fans more room, alleviate congestion before & after the games, and at halftime.

Z, regarding stadium upgrades, I'm not so sure Haslam wouldn't welcome the massive cash infusion Gilbert could bring as a minority owner. Regarding a dome, never say never.

Jimmah is taking some of the money he got from Warren Buffett (who bought Pilot from him)...to put into buying the Columbus soccer team...and renovating that stadium....plus some into renovating Browns stadium. I wonder if he needs Gilbert's money. (beyond that, I don't think for a moment that Gilbert will give up his casino interests just to buy a minority stake in an NFL team.