Managing and Principal Partners, Dee and Jimmy Haslam (7.27.24)
Opening Statement
Dee Haslam: “We’re really glad to be back here at the Greenbrier. Really appreciate our staff, Greenbrier staff, they’ve done a tremendous job. Glad to see all of you here. Our players are really happy to be here. It’s just such a great place to kick off our season. We’re also just thrilled to have Kevin (Stefanski) and Andrew’s (Berry) contract extended. They’re really great men, great to work with and really great leaders. So, we’re glad you guys are here.”
I was curious as you watch Nick (Chubb) go through that post practice workout, obviously no timeline on his return. What’s going through your mind as you watch and go through that?
Jimmy Haslam: “Well, I would say probably the same thing that’s going through all of your minds are, we’re all hoping and praying that Nick’s gonna get back because he’s not only a great player, he’s a great guy, but he seems to be on track. I think we all have to remember, he’s coming back from an incredibly serious knee injury that required two surgeries. But if anybody can do it, it’s Nick Chubb. So, we’re excited to see what can happen.”
Since you touched on it, what does it mean to have that stability up top, to have the extensions with two leaders that you do have?
Dee Haslam: “Well, they’re just really great men, first of all, and really good leaders. I think the players really respect them and the entire staff works really well with them. They know how to get everybody to come together with the same goals. So, it really does make a difference.”
You had that partnership to begin with and you also extended Paul DePodesta at the time, has he been extended also?
Jimmy Haslam: “Paul has not. We’re working through the situation with Paul. It’s a little bit different because he lives in San Diego, but we’re comfortable Paul will remain with us in some very important fashion for the long term.”
About the extensions, did it feel like a significant step for the organization to have top two guys or two of the top guys around for a long time?
Jimmy Haslam: “Well, I guess you would say it’s relief that they performed well, and Dee (Haslam) said it well. I mean, they’re not only a good GM and a good coach, but they’re really good people. They’re very young. I think oftentimes we forget how young they are, and I think potentially very high ceiling for both of them. So, as Dee said, they’re good at their job and they’re good people to work with.”
Can you both maybe address just how well Deshaun Watson has come back so far from his shoulder surgery and how nice it is for you guys to see him out here in 11-on-11 since he’ll be in pads on Monday?
Dee Haslam: “I think for what you can see as well, he’s really comfortable and really confident. I think that has made a big difference this year, immediately coming out comfortable and confident.”
Jimmy Haslam: “You know, Deshaun had the surgery, if I remember the Monday after Thanksgiving. So, Dec., Jan., Feb., March, he came back in early April. I think he attended every practice this spring, might have missed one, which was great for him. He’s worked hard. He told us he’s in the best shape he’s ever been in. So, we’re excited to see what happens next week, get the pads on and see how he does. But he’s in a very good frame of mind as I think you all saw yesterday.”
All things considered, you had a pretty good year offensively last year with the injury. Why did the organization think the offense needed to be changed and the coordinator needed to be changed?
Jimmy Haslam: “No, I think it’s a hard question because you’re talking about the people that were here who are really good people in some ways did a really good job. I think you’re always trying to look to improve, innovate and get better, and you’re also looking what offense fits your quarterback’s skill set the best. So, we’re excited to see what Ken (Dorsey) and his group can do. We obviously have two new O-line coaches, new tight end coach, new running back. So, the entire offense, except for CO (Chad O’Shea), is new. They have put in a ton of time. Kevin’s been right in the middle of it, and I think the solution Kevin came up with where there’s going to be a fair amount of change in the offense, but he’s going to call the plays.”
Coming back to the Greenbrier, have you had any pepperoni rolls since you’ve been here?
Jimmy Haslam: “I don’t think we had pepperoni rolls. I don’t need to. You know, this was Kevin’s idea to come down here. He was big on getting away for camp and it worked out well last year. He would say that let’s face it, we face as much adversity as you can face, right? Devastated by injuries with Jack (Conklin) the first game, then Nick, then Deshaun, then all three tackles, et cetera, et cetera, and yet still managed to finish 11-6 and make the playoffs. He felt like that, bonding, if you will, really helped us through the tough times and it’s hard to argue with that. The second year is easy, right? Everybody knows where everything is, you all included. So hopefully it’ll help us again this year.”
Going back to Deshaun and the contract and obviously entering year three of that and the time he’s missed, just how confident are you guys still in him and the success he can bring to this team and obviously the Super Bowl goals of it all?
Dee Haslam: “I mean, Deshaun works really hard. I mean, he’s well prepared, he worked really hard in the off season. We obviously have really high expectations. He has really high expectations of himself.”
Off of that, Deshaun, how often are you guys in conversations with him just, you know, casual or otherwise, and how much of your relationship with him kind of grown over these three years?
Dee Haslam: “I mean, we talk to the players all the time. I mean, we’re in the building, so we see them on a casual basis. We talk to Deshaun on a regular basis. I think maybe not all our players, but a lot of our players are really comfortable with us being around and Deshaun is certainly comfortable with us.”
Could you update us on the stadium situation?
Jimmy Haslam: “Yeah, great question. I think we said the last time we talked to you all, this is a big project, okay? No matter which direction we go into, it’s complicated. Anytime you have a public private partnership, it’s not easy. We’re continuing to work through the process, and we hope sooner rather than later we’ll have a solution. But I can assure you, we were on the phone for an hour this morning talking about various things that have to be solved and one solution or the other, and we’ll continue to do so until we get to what we think the right answer. And if you ask what’s the right answer, the right answer is what is best for our fans, okay? That is driving 90% of the decision making. What’s best for our fans. Because these are long, long-term decisions. This isn’t a five-year decision, a 10-year decision. It’s at least a 20-year decision, maybe more. So what is best for our fans? Well, ultimately drive what we did.”
Dee Haslam: “We just came off the MLS All-Star Week down in Columbus at the Lower.com Field, and we can see what a new facility again can do for the vibrancy of the city. I mean, it was an incredible three or four days in Columbus.”
Since you last spoke on it, is it getting more complicated or less complicated?
Jimmy Haslam: “I don’t think either, Tony (Grossi). I think I said this, if we go to Brook Park, and I’m not saying we are, that’s a $2.4 billion project, plus the real estate development around it would make about three and a half. That would be the third or fourth largest construction project ever done in Ohio. If we remodel our existing stadium and spend a billion dollars, that’s more than Sherwin Williams is spending on their downtown office building. So just, the complexity of these, getting the design right, the cost right, making sure you can finance it, how much equity it’s going to take, working with city, county and state just takes time and everybody is working hard on it.”
How close are you coming up with a plan? Some of the feedback, the folks that I’ve talked to, they’re looking for a singular plan. They’re not looking for option one and option two. So, what’s the timeline to make that decision between a renovation or to build in Brook Park?
Jimmy Haslam: “Good question, Daryl (Ruiter). I don’t know that because there’s too many variables. I can tell you we’re intensely focused. Hope it happens sooner rather than later. If I was you I’d ask, ‘what’s sooner?’ I don’t really want to commit and say exactly because there’s still a fair amount of variables.”
You had that Berea project, too. The state did not give the city the funding for the recreation center or the field. What does that do for your plans for those 16 acres? And when do you expect to put shovels in the ground and start developing that area?
Jimmy Haslam: “You know, real shovels in the ground next March or April. Probably will do some preliminary work, if all goes well, underground work, if you will, in the fall before it turns cold and wet. Still cautiously optimistic. We’ll be able to get everything done there. Dee (Haslam) and I went down and looked at The Star in Dallas two or three weeks ago. It’s not going to be of that magnitude, but I think it’s a cool little project, if you will, for Berea. We still hope to have rec center for everybody to use, student housing for Baldwin-Wallace, apartments, a hotel – which that area badly needs it. Some restaurants, and then a 7,500-seat stadium that we’d activate for football, lacrosse, soccer, high school games, Baldwin-Wallace games, etcera. I think it’ll be a really neat project. You all are there at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus all the time. When you come over that bridge and see all that open space, you know, it’s good. So, we’re excited. It’s not near the magnitude of what Brook Park or what our remodel of Cleveland Browns Stadium would be, but it’s a neat little project.”
Jimmy, the mayor has made apparently a big commitment to the Dan Gilbert project on the riverfront. How does it affect what you’re trying to do?
Jimmy Haslam: “Yeah, first of all, I want to say this. We don’t view this as one or the other, okay? And we want Dan’s Bedrock project on the river to be successful. It’s my understanding the city is setting up a pretty substantial TIF (tax increment financing) for them and good for them. We hope it gets done, and we hope the lakefront gets developed at the same time. Because if both of those can happen over the next five, six, seven years, we’ll make Cleveland and northeast Ohio a much better place to live.”
It doesn’t seem that the city wants to move forward with the type of lakefront plan that you guys presented. I believe it was in May of 2021. They seem to want to take a different approach to lakefront development. What’s your take on that, and how does that impact your decision-making process?
Dee Haslam: “You know that whole project is still in development. I mean, we’ve had some great conversations with the mayor, so it’s flexible too. They have some really good ideas on that plan. I think our plan had some really good ideas, and I think working through that together, that’s a process, too.”
Jimmy Haslam: “Let me just say one other thing, and that’s the mayor and the current administration’s prerogative. You know, it’s public property or will be public property. That’s their prerogative. And if they think that plan is great, we’ll support it.”
You have your coach in place for long term, you’ve got your GM in place. You’ve got your quarterback. You’ve got Myles Garrett here. Seems like it’s all coming together the way that you guys want it to. So where is the bar set? What are your expectations for your football team this season?
Jimmy Haslam: “Can I give you the same answer we did last year, Mary Kay (Cabot)? Listen, I think we do, but this is the NFL, and if anybody understands how hard to do is to win, it’s us, okay? Because we’ve got a long way to go in terms of being a consistent winner. Do we feel good about our roster, our quarterback, and our staff? We do, but things happen. Injuries, you know, situations change. And I think you all know we have an extremely difficult schedule this year. If I’m a fan, our home schedule is unbelievable. You know, if you care who wins and loses these games, it’s tough. So, are we comfortable? I don’t even want to say comfortable. We’ve made a lot of progress. Still have progress together is probably a better way to say it.”
I know you said you couldn’t give an exact timetable, but is there a deadline for the stadium where the plan needs to start being in the stages of going for it to be ready by 2028?
Jimmy Haslam: “Yeah, I guess, Chris (Easterling), our lease runs out in 2028, so I guess you could say that’s driving it and that’s providing a sense of urgency. I just don’t want to say October 1 or January 1 or March 1 because it would be disingenuous, because we really don’t have that. I can assure you, the intensity on all sides of coming up with a solution.”
How would you describe your dialogue with the mayor, personally?
Dee Haslam: “Really good. We’ve had great conversations. We had dinner with him not long ago. I think we have a really good relationship with the mayor, and we care deeply about Cleveland and kind of his vision for the future and very supportive.”
Do you need to take this and make it a ballot issue at some point?
Jimmy Haslam: “It’s our understanding we do not.”
Why not just pay for yourselves?
Jimmy Haslam: “You know, it’s a complicated question in that the vast majority of these stadiums, if you read the news, the last six months are public-private partnerships, we don’t own the stadium. And I’ll be honest, the way the financials work out in an area like Northeast Ohio, I think it needs to be a partnership. I still think the incremental revenue, that’s what everybody needs to understand, will pay for the financing with the city, the county, and the state, if they choose to do so, I don’t want to be presumptuous. They’re really taking our new projected revenue stream, bonding it, letting us borrow. They’re providing the finances with the project. So, I think it’s a good way to go. We have worked in depth with all really forward into these cities of Cleveland, what part of Cuyahoga County and the state of Ohio.”
So regardless of if it’s a remodel or a renewal. Even if has to go through Cuyahoga County, it doesn’t have to go to the ballot?
Jimmy Haslam: “Unless something changes.”
Do you have a deadline with the land purchase option in Brook Park? Is there a hard deadline with that particular developer?
Jimmy Haslam: “You know, there’s always deadlines with options. We have found you can usually work with a developer, and in this case, the developer is somebody we have a very positive relationship. So, you know, cautious optimism that we can work that out.”
Do you believe you need the mayor’s public approval to go over to Brook Park?
Jimmy Haslam: “I don’t think so. I mean, listen, here’s what we told the mayor – regardless, if we stay in Cleveland, we want that to be a win-win. If we go to Brook Park, we want that to be a win-win. And we will be the biggest cheerleaders and supporters either way.”
Do you feel like an amazing season this year would help foster great feelings for getting your project done wherever it is?
Jimmy Haslam: “It doesn’t hurt, right? We’re big on customer service scores and our highest scores are when we win and our lowest is when we lose. Was the service really worse? I don’t know. It doesn’t hurt. But I think most people are going to look at this as a long term project. And Dee and I have said it numerous times, the support of our fans in northeast Ohio is phenomenal. We have unbelievable fans and that’s why we want to work so hard to get them a good experience.”
What feedback are you getting from the fans on what they want? This is all about the fans. Do they want downtown Cleveland, or do they want Brook Park?
Dee Haslam: “A casual survey says they’re real excited about Brook Park, but you know, that’s not very scientific. So I don’t know.”
A dome would allow you to host a tremendous amount of additional events than if you remained open air. But would the investment in the existing stadium provide you organizationally, to meet the goals that you’re aiming for with a stadium project as far as the, you know, additional events and things like that? Because you’re still open air, you’re still on grass, you’re all that, you know?
Dee Haslam: “I just think we’re really trying to solve a lot of the problems with the current stadium. Safety for the fans getting in and out of the stadium, make it easier for them. It’s really complex to get all that worked out and solved. So, I think those are some of the major issues we’re trying functionally, we have a lot of issues with the current stadium that we’re trying to solve.”
Jimmy Haslam: “Big challenges with our current site are ingress, egress and traffic. And those are challenges that – can we alleviate some? Yes. Are we going to be able to perfectly correct it? No.”
How do you feel about the 18 games schedule? It feels like strong push to that. Do you like it and how fast do you think it could get there?
Jimmy Haslam: “Well, let’s understand for that to happen, NFL and NFL owners and the players union have to agree. Okay. And the number one concern for both of those groups is player safety. So, we have to be convinced. We know we would take off an exhibition game. We’d have to be convinced it’s not going to move the health and safety needle negatively in any way. If we get comfortable with that, then if the players are willing to play an 18th game, I think everybody understands we split the revenue, so they get half, and we get half. But I think we need to see and make sure that the health and safety numbers are not going to go backwards on us because we have worked really hard on improving that over the last, it’s been the number one function focus the last five years and I think we’ll continue to do so and we’ve made progress, but we just need to make sure of that.”
Jimmy and Dee, yesterday we talked to Deshaun Watson and the press conference speared towards him, talking about whether blocking out the BS and not giving two “whatevers” about what people think of him. Is that consistent with the mindset that you’ve seen from him so far this whole entire off season, or did that maybe not strike the note that you would like on the first press conference?
Dee Haslam: “Look, I think Deshaun’s trying really hard and I think blocking out the noise is something really important to him. So I think he was probably emotional when he said that. I mean, that’s something that I can see in the current situation saying that. But I think Deshaun is really focused this year and I think he’s much more comfortable and confident.”
How did it happen that you end the preseason in Seattle, night game?
Jimmy Haslam: “That’s a good question. Would you ask the NFL that? In exhibition games, you’re generally supposed to play close by and obviously, there are a lot of teams and the last thing you want to play is on the west coast at night. So, I do not know how that happened.”
Did you get an explanation?
Dee and Jimmy Haslam: “No.”
Would you (Jimmy) mind addressing Deshaun’s mindset?
Jimmy Haslam: “Oh, yeah, I would say this. Listen, the injury was terrible, but maybe in a different sort of way, being out in LA, he was out there really, like I said, four months and really got into his rehab, he was away from everything, I think we all understand the weather out there. And when he came back in April, it was obviously had a much different mindset than we’d seen before. Hopefully we’ll get a great year of play out of him because I know he wants that and we want to see that.”
Do you foresee the NFL, every team going to have an international game in the foreseeable future?
Jimmy Haslam: “I think they generally spread it around based on a lot of different things. We almost went to Brazil, instead the Packers went, which I’m actually fine with because that’s a long trip [laughing]. I think, this is me personally, focus on winning games, not just on going to London or Munich or wherever, but the NFL continues to grow as an international game, so we’ve all got to do our share to help.”
You guys talked about the culture of extensions for Kevin Stefanski, Andrew Berry, when we talk about the guys that have returned here. Not even to mention the free agency signings that you guys are able to pull in. What has it been like as owners of this franchise to see that kind of culture shift for the Cleveland Browns?
Jimmy Haslam: “I think Andrew and his team and Kevin is big on this too – I want to make sure I say this carefully…We don’t have bad guys, okay? We have high character guys who work hard, who care about the team, etcetera. And when we go sign free agents, we focus on the draft heavily and we focus on free agents, too. And the free agents have all fit in. Listen, it’s early, but they’ve all fit in well and they seem like good players and hopefully they’ll be good, good people. And hopefully they’ll be good players.”
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