COLUMBUS: The Cleveland Browns took another step Thursday toward making Columbus the organization’s future home for summer training camp — but the team confirmed it will hold its 2016 preseason practices in Berea.
The Browns have touted Columbus as a potential training camp host for years.
The team and a Columbus development group have asked the state to help pay $5 million to build a practice facility for the Browns at Ohio State University, the Columbus Dispatch first reported.
The Columbus Partnership made the request for the money in the biennial state capital improvements bill that will be proposed in the next few months.
The request does not guarantee state approval.
Alex Fischer, president of the Columbus Partnership, said moving the summer practices to Columbus only strengthens the team and both Columbus and Cleveland. The team said in its statement that it was approached by Columbus officials interested in building a facility that could serve as a recreation center for area youth during the 11 months it’s not being used by the Browns.
The University of Akron has also expressed interest in becoming home to training camp, and the Browns had said previously that they were open to exploring that option.
In 2014, the University of Akron hosted 20,673 people for the Browns’ Family Day scrimmage at InfoCision Stadium.
Last summer, however, the state capital’s bid to become host overshadowed Akron’s as about 50,000 fans flocked to Ohio Stadium to watch the Browns scrimmage.
“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,” a Browns spokesman said in a news release.
The idea is drawing backlash in Cleveland, where the Browns have trained at the team’s headquarters complex in Berea since 1992.
State Rep. Mike Dovilla, R-Berea, called it an “absurd idea” and a “money grab” that he will fight vigorously.
“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,” Dovilla said in a news release.
The idea of using state funds toward a Browns facility in Columbus could rankle fans of the state’s other NFL team, the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Browns statement indicated that the team would share financial responsibility for the training facility.
“In relocating training camp, we would incur all the costs associated with moving and holding our operations at a remote site,” the release said.
Beacon Journal sports writer Nate Ulrich and the Associated Press contributed to this report.