CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland Indians have entered into a $ 435 million agreement with the City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, and the state of Ohio to renovate the Progressive Field and extend the team’s Cleveland lease for at least 15 years.
The deal was introduced Thursday morning by team owner Paul Dolan, Governor Mike DeWine, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, County Executive Armond Budish, and County Council President Pernel Jones Jr., who gathered at Progressive Field to listen to the announcement during a virtual press conference make . Check out the live announcement here.
Local and state taxpayers would pay about two-thirds of the cost, with the future Cleveland Guardians paying the rest.
Over the life of the 15-year contract, the city would pay about $ 117 million, the county about $ 138 million, the state $ 30 million, and the team $ 150 million, according to documents from The Plain dealer and cleveland.com.
The deal, which must be approved by both the city council and the county council, does not include any new taxes or tax increases. All public funding would come from existing sources of income.
The 15-year lease includes the option of an additional 10-year extension to keep the team in Cleveland until 2036 and possibly until 2046.
The agreement would include fan-centric improvements to the public ballpark, as well as capital repairs, maintenance, property taxes, and operating expenses for the nonprofit Gateway Economic Development Corporation, which enforces Indian and Cavalier leases and acts as the ballpark and arena landlord.
With hundreds of millions of taxpayers at stake, the deal could catch fire from community members and organizations who oppose the plan, much like the outcry against the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse renovation in 2016, which was largely publicly funded . Opponents criticized the deal as a giveaway to a wealthy sports team owner as the city’s neighborhoods suffered from divestments.
However, Jackson, Budish and DeWine on Thursday praised the Progressive Field agreement as one that will keep the ballpark up as an economic engine for Greater Cleveland.
The ballpark is expected to generate $ 3.22 billion in visitor spending and $ 21 million in state and local taxes annually over the next 15 years, according to a press release. It draws an average of 1.7 million people to downtown Cleveland each year.
“We’re one of the few cities with three major sports teams that are all in one central business district,” Jackson said in the press release. “This shows that exercise is important to the economic vitality of our hospitality industry, and baseball, in particular, is critical to the future of Cleveland.”
Budish said, “All of our suburbs are in many ways affected by the health and advancement of the inner city. Progressive Field generates tax revenue, job creation, and other economic benefits that every community and resident in Cuyahoga County benefits from. “
Dolan said the deal would help keep Cleveland’s ballpark on par with others in the league.
“Our organization is proud to continue our long-term commitment to Cleveland by making sure we keep our ballpark competitive,” Dolan said in the press release. “We want to offer our fans, our community and our players the best possible baseball experience.”
Budish also called the deal a “responsible investment” in the press release, noting that renovating would be less expensive than building a new one. A new ballpark could cost more than $ 1 billion, he said, and cities with newer ball parks than Clevelands have already moved to completely replace their facilities.
The ballpark, then known as Jacobs Field, opened in 1994. The district is to repay the bonds from the original construction in 2023, at the same time as the current lease expires. Under the terms of this lease, taxpayers are responsible for paying for major capital repairs in excess of $ 500,000.
The proposed lease extension would cover major capital repairs in addition to the planned renovations, such as the publication said.
About half of the Indian $ 10 million annual payment goes toward such fan-experience enhancements.
Where does the money come from
In addition to the $ 150 million contribution from the Indians and $ 30 million from the state, the city and county taxpayers would pay about $ 255 million.
The county would prepay about $ 14.5 million and then issue bonds to raise the proceeds for the remaining public portion of the funding, along with $ 68 million in bonds that would be repaid by the team, it says in the documents.
The public portion of the bonds, including principal and interest, would be repaid through a variety of sources of income from cities, counties, and states. Here’s what the documents say about how the city and county in general would pay their share of the debt each year:
City of Cleveland
Sports Facility Reserves: $ 3.2 million
Parking garage revenue: $ 2 million
Half of entry tax revenue from baseball games: $ 2.6 million
Garage naming rights: $ 333,000
Unknown Source: $ 350,000
Cuyahoga County
Bed Tax: $ 3 million
Sin Tax: $ 2.5 million
General Fund: $ 2.5 million
Unspecified Sources: Approximately $ 300,000
The source of the state funding is not specified in the documents received cleveland.com.
The sin tax was originally collected to pay for construction and repairs to the ballpark and arena (a portion also goes to Cleveland’s own soccer stadium). And the county increased bed tax by one percentage point in 2019, in part to pay for future improvements to Progressive Field.
This is breaking news and will be updated.
