There are many reasons not to go to a Cleveland Browns game: the stadium is old, the team is not good; The quarterback is to blame.there is always construction on the road, and recently you saw how expensive gas is!
Well, lawmakers in Ohio have a solution to at least one of those issues, and it’s basically just not giving the Browns any money. He used the $600 million earmarked specifically for the Browns’ new stadium to fill the coffers by establishing gas tax holidays across Ohio. This is a little convoluted, but it brings together two wildly popular concepts in successful politics; Cheap gas and not giving money to billionaires.
The $600 million has been a point of contention in Ohio for more than a year now. In the year In the summer of 2025, the Ohio Legislature approved giving the money to the team in the form of a gift for the new Brook Park Stadium, which was created last spring. The money was collected from Ohio’s unclaimed funds division, which is a pool of money made up of “forgotten bank accounts, utility deposits, bounced checks and more.” Ohio Capital Journal. A lawsuit was filed to block that grant from happening, and in December 2025, a judge blocked the state from giving the money. Since then, the team has been on a legal path as it moves forward with construction.
Fast forward to this week, when both major political candidates in Ohio’s gubernatorial race proposed a gas tax holiday to combat ever-increasing gas prices. The gas tax is typically used to fund projects such as road maintenance and other projects run by the Ohio Department of Transportation. Which kind of begs the question of how much money is actually available for those projects. Well, one Ohio Democrat has a solution. Use that $600 million instead of the Browns to fund the Department of Transportation and provide Ohioans with cheaper gas.
It’s clearly a political position, but it’s a very good position to take. It forces lawmakers to make relatively clear decisions about whether to give money to an unpopular billionaire or make gas cheaper. To put it differently, Deshaun Watson’s contract could double in size to fill Ohio State’s potholes and repair bridges.
It’s the new Browns Stadium. It is planned to open for the 2029 season in Brook Park, Ohio; It is located on the southwest edge of Cleveland and 13 miles from the current lakefront stadium. It will technically be the second time the Browns have moved out of Cleveland. When Art Model tried to relocate the organization, a law known as the “Model Law” was passed to prevent professional sports teams from leaving the city. Current Ohio Governor Mike DeWine It helped to fix the problem For Haslam, not only the city of Cleveland, but getting the law changed to keep teams from leaving the state.
For now, the Browns continue to play at Huntington Bank Field. The team will host their home opener this coming Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.
