CLEVELAND — The City of Cleveland and the State of Ohio both submitted motions to dismiss the Browns’ lawsuit in federal court over the potential stadium move, saying the matter doesn’t need to be at a federal level.
What You Need To Know
Both of the motions claim it’s a state issue, not a federal issue
The Cleveland Browns updated their complaint in May over Cleveland using the Art Modell Law to keep the team in downtown
Both motions urge the court to throw out the lawsuit
In May, the Browns filed an updated complaint against the city of Cleveland in federal court. It’s over the city of Cleveland’s use of the state law, known as the Art Modell Law, to prevent the Browns’ from leaving the downtown lakefront.
The Browns have been trying to build a domed stadium in Brook Park, which would move the team out of downtown Cleveland. That law requires owners of Ohio teams who play in taxpayer supported facilities to put the team up for sale for six months before relocating.
In the Browns’ updated complaint, the team states that the law is unconstitutional and adds the city’s law director as a defendant on the case.
In the newly filed motion from the State of Ohio, they state that the Browns’ lawsuit is “just a tactic to facilitate the Browns’ abandonment of Cleveland for a new stadium in Brook Park.” They additionally state that the Browns still haven’t shown why the case belongs in federal court, as the complaint is about a state law.
“As they see it, the state law they want this court to declare unconstitutional does not even apply to them,” the motion by the State of Ohio reads.
In the motion by Ohio, it urges the court to not even entertain the case. The City of Cleveland’s motion takes that a step further.
“Finally, once the federal claims are dismissed, this court should decline to exercise supplumental jurisdiction over the remaining state law claims,” the motion from the City of Cleveland reads. “The Browns should not yet, if ever, be in federal court. An Ohio court should have been their first, and possibly only, stop.”
The current lakefront stadium, Huntington Bank Field, has a lease that’s up in 2028. The Browns has state in previous court filings that they’d need to break ground on the Brook Park stadium by early 2026 to be ready for the 2029 season.
Spectrum News 1 reporter Nora McKeown contributed to this story.