CLEVELAND, Ohio — If Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne has his way, voters will decide this year whether to quadruple the county’s sin tax on cigarettes and alcohol to pay for upkeep of Cleveland’s three publicly owned sports stadiums.
It’s an idea Ronayne has largely championed for the last year as a way to close the widening funding gap for repairs at Progressive Field, Rocket Arena and Huntington Bank Field — costs that the city and county have increasingly covered with general fund dollars.
Initial proposals called to triple the tax rate, but officials have since upped the ante and now, Ronayne said Cleveland officials and the respective sports teams that play in the facilities are urging state lawmakers to allow the county to put the question to voters. If they’re successful, the measure could appear on the ballot this year.
“Voters could see a sin tax initiative as early as November 2026, but the timeline and specifics aren’t 100% clear right now,” Ronayne’s Director of Communications Kelly Woodard said.
Sin tax dollars are currently split three ways between the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Guardians and Cleveland Browns to upkeep their respective facilities (a separate portion of the cigarette tax, which increased last year, goes toward funding the arts). Those dollars are funneled through Gateway Economic Development Corporation of Greater Cleveland, the nonprofit that owns and operates the ballpark and arena, for repairs at its two facilities, and the City of Cleveland, for repairs at the football stadium.
But revenues have not kept pace with inflation and repair needs over the years, forcing the city and county to provide Gateway with a $40 million bailout in 2024 – nearly half of which the county had to borrow and has yet to repay.
Another $150 million in capital repairs waits on deck at Gateway facilities in the next three years, with more than $260 million in additional work projected through the remainder of the teams’ leases, according to a recent assessment. Gateway is obligated to cover those costs, even though it has no dedicated revenue stream to do so. And the county, facing one of its tightest budgets on record, has little room to step in.
A different proposal to create a special financing district that could collect small fees on parking, dining and entertainment in the Gateway District to help fund stadium repairs also hasn’t gained traction.
Without a new funding stream, Gateway is likely to require another bailout — again putting city and county general funds at risk.
“That’s exactly what the county wants to avoid,” Ronayne recently told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. “Our goal at the county is to take the general fund out of the equation on financing of the ballpark and arena.”
How? By increasing the so-called sin tax on alcohol and cigarettes.
The existing tax – 1.5 cents per can of beer and 4.5 cents on a pack of cigarettes – hasn’t been changed since voters originally approved it in 1990. It yields about $13 to $14 million per year.
Ohio lawmakers recently authorized the county to consider doubling the tax rates, but Ronayne declined, saying the increase would only generate about $25 million annually — still far short of what Gateway and the sports facilities are expected to need. Quadrupling the rates, however, could generate closer to $56 million per year; enough, Ronayne argues, to stabilize the funding model and reduce the risk of future bailouts.
But it also needs to come with stronger assurances for voters that their investment is worthwhile, he said, hinting toward the growing public dissent for using taxpayer dollars to subsidize billionaire team owners.
“What are they (taxpayers) getting for it?” Ronayne stressed.
Team executives argue public investment in the facilities benefit the broader regional economy.
Nic Barlage, CEO of Rock Entertainment Group, which manages the Cavaliers, rejected the idea that public funding for arena upkeep amounts to a bailout for wealthy owners during a City Club of Cleveland event last month. He urged the community to view the dollars as an investment in an “experience-driven economy,” instead.
Barlage said Cavs owner Dan Gilbert has invested $209 million of his own money into Rocket Arena and hundreds of millions more downtown through his Bedrock development company. Representatives for the Guardians have made similar arguments about the Dolan family’s investments in Progressive Field and the broader community.
“We want to make sure we’re doing right by doing well for the community,” Barlage said. “We’re not looking for a handout.”
He said the organization is even open to potentially changing the lease agreement, which currently requires Gateway to pay for all capital repairs over $500,000. He did not provide specifics about what those changes might entail.
For Ronayne’s part, he’s not against some level of public funding for county assets, and he largely doesn’t dispute the teams’ stated repair needs at facilities that are now more than 30 years old. The challenge, he said, is identifying a sustainable way to pay for them without relying on county or city general funds.
However, Ronayne drew a sharp distinction between using tax dollars to maintain existing public assets and helping the Browns finance a new stadium in Brook Park.
Ronayne, who did not want the Browns to leave Cleveland, said he expects the team will continue to seek county bonding support for the new stadium, but he has yet to see a funding plan “that isn’t risky.” Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam have also said they can build without the county’s backing, he noted.
“So why, with all the challenges we have, why put our treasury into something that doesn’t need us?” Ronayne asked. “Last I looked, the Haslams can afford to build their own facility.”
Those financing questions only pertain to the construction of a new $2.4 billion stadium, though. The team has not yet laid out a plan for covering ongoing maintenance, other than continuing to bank on a third of six tax collections, as recently guaranteed by the state.
Without a new revenue source to cover hundreds of millions of dollars in expected expenses at the three facilities, however, the reality remains: local government coffers will continue to shoulder the burden.