The Cleveland Browns’ hunt for a new football stadium has been a long process that began well over a year ago, and the Browns aren’t in the clear yet. After struggling to secure state funding and a location, the new stadium now faces a new obstacle: airspace.
According to Front Office Sports, the Ohio Department of Transportation notified the Browns that the Brook Park stadium may interfere with air traffic at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Because of this potential interference, the ODOT said it would not be issuing the team and owners, Haslam Sports Group, the necessary permit to start construction.
“Please contact our office to request a permit at these reduced heights,” ODOT wrote in a letter to HSG representatives. “This structure may also be permitted at your proposed height at another location further away from the airport.”
The current renderings call for the stadium to be built 80 feet into the ground and rise 221 feet into the air, but the ODOT’s maximum height allowance in that zone is 163 feet — a difference of 58 feet.
“We’ve already begun working collaboratively with ODOT to explain the stadium’s heights and the detailed work we’ve done more fully, which shows no safety or efficiency issues to the airport,” said HSG spokesman Peter John-Baptiste in a statement. “We look forward to resolving this matter expeditiously and continuing our work to bring this transformative project to Northeast Ohio.”
Despite already receiving approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, the Browns may either alter the stadium plan or appeal the ruling by ODOT.
“This is a complicated project,” Browns’ owner, Jimmy Haslam, said. “There’s stuff going on. It’s three and a half years until the stadium opens, and we will have to work hard every day to get everything to come together.”
