Browns win big in Columbus with new Ohio budget bill

The Cleveland Browns won big in Columbus.

The Browns got some great news about their stadium from the Ohio Statehouse. The Ohio Republicans in both chambers passed their budget to Governor DeWine. The budget includes funding for the Brook Park stadium, as well as a change to the Modell law. The proposed Ohio budget allocates $600 million for the Browns' future stadium in Brook Park. The moves give Browns’ owner Jimmy Haslam the green light to build his hyperreality park. Governor DeWine has until July 1st to approve the budget. DeWine has line-item veto powers to remove individual items he doesn’t support.

The Browns have secured funding for a new stadium. The money is coming from the unclaimed funds account. The budget would give the state control of the nearly $2 billion in unclaimed funds. The state would have ownership of abandoned security deposits and paychecks after 10 years. Ohio is sitting on almost $5 billion in unclaimed money. The original plan to pay for the stadium was for the state to issue bonds. The move to grab unclaimed funds was unexpected. The Browns aren’t the only Ohio team to get money. The budget reserves $400 million for the Cincinnati Bengals to renovate their stadium. 

The proposed bill amends the Modell law to allow Ohio teams to relocate to a new site within the county where they reside. The City of Cleveland has spent an exorbitant amount of money building a legal case against the Browns if they were to attempt to move. However, that work and money will be for nothing after the bill is passed. The path is nearly clear for the Browns to play in a domed stadium in Brook Park.

This article originally appeared on Browns Wire: Cleveland Browns win big at Ohio Statehouse