The Cleveland Browns, as well as other organizations, have put in their two cents about the team's possible future training camp in Columbus.
The Browns' statement released Thursday said when the idea was first explored of potentially holding training camps outside of the Cleveland area, the team said it would make the decision based on what was best for football operations and preparation for the next season.
The statement continued:
Our football group believes it would be a positive, as it is for nearly a dozen teams in the NFL. In relocating training camp, we would incur all the costs associated with moving and holding our operations at a remote site. Clearly, we need a facility from which to operate and are in discussions with potential partners. Columbus approached us regarding creating a site that would serve area youth for recreational purposes the 11-plus months a year that we are not using the space, but those are discussions and plans that Columbus leaders are working through, which we will review as a serious option. Columbus is a good location for us for multiple reasons, including to give more convenient opportunities to our fans across Ohio to experience their team in person. We will continue to thoroughly evaluate all options while remaining committed to hosting open practices for fans at our year-round facility in Berea. The 2016 Browns training camp will be held in Berea.”
The Browns weren't the only ones that had something to say about the possible new training camp. Tommy Greene, a candidate for the Ohio House of Representative's 16th District, said northeast Ohioans deserve to have the Browns' training camp in Northeast Ohio. He also said taxpayers should not 'be on the hook to move it to Columbus.'
“Sundays can be frustrating here in Cleveland, but we’ve had our team taken from us once and it’s not going to happen again," Greene said. "The politicians in Columbus should be focused on putting people to work and raising incomes, not poaching from one city to help another.”
State Representative Nan Baker (R-Westlake) also didn't like the idea of taxpayers having to endure the expense of a new training camp. She voiced her opposition to the plan, submitted by the Columbus business community, asking the state legislature to put $5 million in taxpayer funds towards building a new football facility.
Baker said the Columbus-area business community should know better than to ask Ohio citizens to pay for a potential movement of the Cleveland Browns training facility.
“I will not support this plan and will work with my colleagues to end such a measure," Baker said.
Ohio State Representative Mike Dovilla (R-Berea) issued a statement Thursday that said he has been fighting to keep the training camp in Berea since the idea to have a new camp was revealed in 2014. He said all of his calls to the Browns about the possible new camp have gone unreturned.
“The Browns and Berea are synonymous, and there is a symbiotic relationship between our residents, local businesses, municipal government, and professional sports franchise that is beloved by fans throughout our region," Dovilla said.“I am vigorously opposing the Columbus Partnership’s capital appropriations request that would use taxpayer dollars to poach economic development from Greater Cleveland to elsewhere in Ohio. I have been in communication with Speaker Rosenberger’s office, Senator Patton, and other legislators from Northeast Ohio – as well as colleagues in central Ohio to express in the strongest possible terms my consternation about any movement of Browns training camp from its longtime home in Berea."“The notion that the Legislature would support this capital request, which does nothing more than pit regions of our great State against one another – and audaciously proposes to use our hard-earned money to do so – is utterly preposterous. I call upon my fellow legislators, Governor Kasich, and leaders throughout Ohio to join me in opposing this money-grab. Today, it is Berea that is on the chopping block. Tomorrow, it could be your hometown.”
