Cleveland Browns Stadium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cleveland Browns Stadium | |
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| Location | 1085 West Third Street Cleveland, Ohio 44114 |
| Broke ground | May 15, 1997 |
| Opened | September 12, 1999 |
| Owner | City of Cleveland |
| Operator | Cleveland Stadium Corp |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction cost | $283 million |
| Architect | HOK Sport |
| Tenants | Cleveland Browns (NFL) (1999-present) |
| Capacity | 73,200 |
Cleveland Browns Stadium is a football stadium located at North Coast Harbor in Cleveland, Ohio ( ). It is the home of the Cleveland Browns NFL franchise. The stadium sits on 31 acres (13 ha) of land on the shores of Lake Erie and has a capacity of at least 73,200. The normal use of Cleveland Browns Stadium is only for football; however, the stadium was built with a playing surface large enough to allow it to host international soccer matches.
Cleveland Browns Stadium sits on the former site of Cleveland Municipal Stadium, which housed the Browns before owner Art Modell moved the team to Baltimore to become the Ravens. As part of the deal that brought a "new" Browns team to Cleveland, the city of Cleveland tore down Cleveland Stadium after the 1996 NFL season to make room for the new facility. Debris from the former stadium were submerged in Lake Erie and now serve as an artificial reef. Ground was broken on May 15, 1997, the stadium opened in July 1999, and the resurrected Browns debuted there in the 1999 NFL season.
The stadium also hosts college football games. The Ohio Classic college football game was held there in both 2004 and 2005. In September 2006 it hosted the Bowling Green Falcons-Wisconsin Badgers game. In 2007 it was the site of the first Patriot Bowl,[1] a season-opening game between the Army Black Knights football team and the Akron Zips. On August 30, 2008, it will be the site of the Boston College Eagles-Kent State Golden Flashes game, and in 2009 the Ohio State Buckeyes-Toledo Rockets game will take place there.
The stadium is also used for some concerts, the most recent of which was on July 14, 2007 by Kenny Chesney. That event was marred by broken plumbing lines which resulted in many rest rooms being suddenly closed during the concert.
The city chose not to sell the naming rights to the stadium itself; this is very unorthodox for major American stadiums built in recent years. Instead, the naming rights to each of the facility's four entrance gates were sold. The names of the gates are Cleveland Clinic Sports Health Gate located in the southwest corner, National City Gate located in the southeast corner, Steris Gate located in the northeast corner, and FirstEnergy Gate is located in the northwest corner of the stadium.
The stadium is also home to the notorious "Dawg Pound", a section of bleacher seats whose occupants are commonly regarded as some of the most passionate in football. The first touchdown pass in the stadium was thrown by Tim Couch.
The West 3rd Street station of Cleveland's Waterfront light rail line serves the stadium.
[edit] Criticism
A major criticism of the facility is that over a quarter of a billion dollars was spent on a venue that is only guaranteed to be used for ten events each year (eight regular season and two preseason football games). Many civic leaders in Cleveland contend that a domed stadium, constructed closer to the central business district, could have doubled as a much needed replacement for the aging, cramped Cleveland Public Auditorium and Convention Center.[citation needed]
A renewed call for a domed stadium came in May 2006, when a campaign was started by local Cleveland business leaders to attract a Super Bowl to the city.[2] [3] The group pushed for a new retractable roof to be added to the existing stadium, since it is considered highly unlikely that the NFL would award the game to an open venue in a cold weather city such as Cleveland.
[edit] References
- ^ Patriot Bowl. Accessed 2007-06-03.
- ^ Superbowl (sic) for Cleveland petition. Accessed 2007-06-03.
- ^ Plan For Browns Stadium Dome Unveiled To City Council, WEWS. 2006-05-11.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Cleveland Municipal Stadium |
Home of the Cleveland Browns 1999 – present |
Succeeded by current |
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