Ohio State Football: Browns could play at Ohio Stadium

The Ohio State football team might be welcoming another Ohio football team to its home stadium. The Browns could wind up in Columbus for a couple of seasons.

The Ohio State football team and the Cleveland Browns could wind up sharing Ohio Stadium for a few seasons. It was reported yesterday that renovations of the Cleveland Browns Stadium could force the Browns to play elsewhere for at least two seasons.

Ken Prendergast, who is an excellent reporter for NEOtrans’ blog reported the news yesterday:

"“The Haslams seek to rebuild Cleveland Browns Stadium so thoroughly that a source said, ‘It won’t look anything like it does now.’ The city-owned stadium will reportedly be rebuilt on their existing lease with the city rather than wait until after that 30-year lease expires following the 2028 football season. The reason for rebuilding the stadium sooner, coinciding with converting the Shoreway to a boulevard, is to avoid higher construction costs later on and start the next lease with the newly rebuilt stadium. That means the Browns will play for two to three seasons at another location.”"

He went on to cite that Columbus would be the likely location, as it holds two venues that could host the Browns. The first, and most obvious would be Ohio Stadium which holds a capacity of north of 100,000 fans. The second venue would be Lower.com Field, in which the Haslams already own, as they are indeed the owners of the Columbus Crew as well. That stadium is much smaller, however, which could present problems for Browns season ticket holders.

Chase Brown of Eleven Warriors went on to say how the Browns moving to Ohio Stadium would be beneficial to Ohio State:

"“Ohio Stadium would require winterization to host Cleveland’s games in December and January, which was a potential issue if the Buckeyes were to host College Football Playoff games in the future. This agreement could theoretically leave the Browns footing the bill.”"

This would be a win-win for the state of Ohio’s two biggest football fan bases. The Haslams already have a major influence in the city of Columbus and by putting the Browns in the city for a couple of seasons, it could grow the Browns’ already massive fan base in central Ohio. And if the Browns could sell over 100,000 tickets per home game, then the cost of the winterization of Ohio Stadium should work out just fine for them.

I have to admit as a fan of both teams this would be pretty cool. Seeing the Orange and Brown in historic Ohio Stadium would be awesome. I’m sure the former great coach of both teams, Paul Brown, would be smiling down from above at the sight. Also, this would mean a completely new and renovated Cleveland Browns Stadium, something that is much needed for the city of Cleveland.

We will probably find out later today if this is going to happen. Lawmakers in Columbus are about to vote on a new walkway from downtown Cleveland to the stadium. If it gets public funding, it all but assures that this renovation is a go, and the Browns could be playing in Columbus very soon.