Is there any surprise — even in the least bit — that the Browns hierarchy, individually and collectively, have stopped just short of saying they want to build a new domed stadium in Brook Park?

Of course there isn’t.

Indeed, the Browns have wanted this all along. Owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam didn’t build the current stadium, and so they have no special feeling for it. They inherited the stadium, and it’s clear that they don’t think that it’s going to work for them long-term.

They also want a dome, wherever it would end up being located, but probably in Brook Park if it comes to pass, for several reasons. It shelters the fans from the cold, wind and snow that arises in Cleveland for roughly the last four to five home games. In addition, it gives the city and the region a huge facility to use for other events, the list of which is endless.

Having a dome stadium, such as Detroit has had for years, just makes sense in a Great Lakes climate. It absolutely does.

This is not 1957 anymore, when people see the Browns beat the Giants 6-3, such as they did in the opener that year, and everybody walks out of Cleveland Stadium thinking they just saw the best football game in the world.

This is 2024, and fans like to see scoring, much more than just nine points, but they aren’t really hardy enough anymore — or readily willing — to sit out in miserable weather for three to four hours. I get that, I certainly do. And I think you fans get it as well.

In Kansas City last year, the fans who watched the Chiefs win that playoff game in freezing-cold temperatures paid the price. Some even had to have fingers and toes that had to be amputated. It was that cold, and if it can be that cold in Kansas City in mid-January, then it can certainly be that cold in Cleveland, and it has.

I have disagreed with a lot of what the Haslams have done, and readers of the space will attest to that. But I am in lockstep with them on this one, and I have been long before any serious talk of a dome stadium arose. This region needs a dome stadium, not just for the Browns, but for every other entity, and this would give everybody what they wanted.

At the same time, the city and the region can use the space that the current stadium sets on for something that will enhance the lakefront, which has been the goal of everyone for decades.

It’s time we get out of the past and into the present and future.

Steve King