Cleveland Browns get extra funds from local council to finance repair, refurbishing of stadium – NFL News
The local city council of the Cleveland has come to the rescue of their team, Browns, in their efforts of renovation and maintenance of their stadium, which is in the council control under a lease deal.
As of the latest the council is reported to have agreed to a $5.8 million payment to the team’s management to compensate their expense on a planned refurbishing of the 12-year old facility.
Browns were reinstalled as the local professional football team by the National Football League (NFL) in 1999, and they have maintained the ground as their main playing and training facility since then.
It is on a lease term to the local council, which remains in their use during the offseason and otherwise, when there is no game or training sessions by Browns.
The council makes available an amount of $850,000 annually as the lease payment to Browns. The management this year has requested the council for additional sum, which they aimed to channelize towards repair and maintenance of the stadium.
Some of the planned activities in their refurbishing drive are repair of seats and damage to concrete structure of the ground, which becomes deteriorated due to extreme weather conditions often prevailed locally.
Mayor of the council is reported to have agreed to make additional funds available for the repair work.
They aim to generate an extra income through a tax on alcohol and tobacco to meet the current account deficit created by the diversion of funds.
In spite of Browns apparent excitement to have been able to attract the required amount for the repair work from the local council, some official are worried for the longer run.
The council might not be able to fund the stadium’s maintenance after 2015, as its option of local taxing is set to end by closing of the stipulated year. There is no guarantee if it can manage the expense by other possible mean.
Browns’ stadium needs repair on the regular basis, sometimes every year, due to the battering it receives from the extreme local weather.
Their facility is exposed to harsh and stormy weather conditions and every year they face a substantial amount of damage to the facilities at the ground. The roughly use of seating facility by the football crazy fans adds to overall losses that the team
occurs in form of damage to the stadium.
It might be not a good development for the team in the longer run if it is unable to get funds from the council and does not have an alternative channel to finance the maintenance work.
Browns’ squad needs a purpose-built facility available all the time without any issue of safety and security, and the team’s possible inability to look after the stadium in the longer run might not be a good news for them.
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