Blame our leaders’ lack of vision when we start losing sports teams: Letter from the Editor

We did something to kick off 2025 that I don’t think we’ve done before: We published – as the main story on our website and the play story on The Plain Dealer’s front page – a story we published in those same spots six months earlier.

It’s about our bold proposal to create a regional quarter-cent sales tax and create a Northeast Ohio Facilities Commission. The money would build a gleaming, new airport along with new and renovated homes for the Cavs, Guardians and Browns. The teams would get new facilities every 40 years, with major renovations when they are 20 years old.

The main point of the proposal is to end the threat that the teams will leave to get new stadiums elsewhere and to spread the cost of the facilities across the population that uses the airports and attends the games. I wrote a note to explain why we were republishing the piece and called out local leaders for repeatedly failing to take the bold steps the region needs.

The readers I heard from largely loved the idea and were glad to see us repeat it. They are frustrated by how Northeast Ohio continues to stagnate while nearby Midwestern cities like Pittsburgh, Columbus, Indianapolis and Detroit thrive. They fully agree with me that our leaders have no vision.

The initial reaction by public officials to the proposal last summer was to run away from it. Leaders in some counties neighboring Cuyahoga said they would never support helping fund Cleveland facilities. And Cleveland officials don’t want to give up control of their airport, which they would have to do under our plan.

Such small-minded thinking.

What officials outside Cuyahoga County fail to consider is that the people who elect them are, largely, sports fans. They are proud that Cleveland remains a city with three professional sports teams. It’s part of their identity. But if we don’t do something to change the economics, our 3-team status cannot last. Cleveland and Cuyahoga County cannot afford to keep footing the bill for homes for three teams. They shouldn’t have to.

If you sometimes wear a Guardians cap, or have a Browns or Cavs jersey in your closet, part of your identity likely is tied to your fandom of our sports teams. Many people reading this would be devastated to lose their favorite team. Would it be worth slapping an extra quarter on the counter every time you spend $100 to keep your team in Cleveland? That’s what this proposal asks.

Most readers we heard from would not hesitate to pay that small price to keep their teams in town. It’s their elected leaders who stand in the way. Readers wondered what it would take to get the message across to their leaders. Some suggested we regularly publish contact information for those who stand in the way. Maybe we should. And if the day comes when we do lose a team, we’ll be sure to remind readers of which elected leaders opposed taking the bold steps needed to keep it.

As for the airport, Cleveland leaders say they should not part with an asset. But our airport is hardly an asset. It’s a pit.

And, Cleveland can’t use it like an asset. Under the city charter, the airport has to pay for itself, and any revenue it generates has to be used for the airport. It’s not as if city taxpayers get a benefit. The city has also proven incapable of the basics of running it, such as keeping bathrooms clean.

But, say Cleveland remained intractable on this. Who says we can’t build a new airport elsewhere? A more centralized location? Would some other municipality want the wage, sales and car rental taxes, along with the other economic benefits of an airport? Detroit’s airport is one of the best, and it was built almost an hour from the city. When Denver replaced its airport 30 years ago, it placed it well outside of town. We could leave Hopkins to fade into a version of Burke Lakefront Airport if Cleveland refused to cooperate.

One last point: the owners of the sports teams likely would not be crazy about our plan, as it would end the open checkbook they have on our taxes.

In our plan, the owners would have to pay for 50 percent of the new construction and the major renovations when the facilities are 20 years old.

The owners, however, would have 100 percent responsibility for maintenance, as well as all improvements made outside of the midlife major renovations.

As things stand today, the teams can replace things like escalators or just about anything else and bill it all to us. Cleveland and Cuyahoga County had to go into debt late last year to give $40 million to the Guardians and Cavs for that kind of improvement.

Out plan would end all that. With the owners having to pay those bills, they might think twice about whether they actually need them.

Readers asked us to keep pushing these themes, and we will. But unless a champion rises soon to help change our fate – unless Northeast Ohio demands more from those we elect – this region will fall further behind cities like Detroit and Columbus.

And we will eventually start losing our teams.

I’m at cquinn@cleveland.com

Thanks for reading.