Music and Sports Venues

FirstEnergy Stadium is located in North Coast Harbor on the shores of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It opened in 1999 and is the home to the Cleveland Browns. The stadium replaced Cleveland Stadium which was a multipurpose facility built in 1931 and was home to the Browns from 1946 through 1995. In 1995 Browns’ owner Art Modell announced his plan to move the team to Baltimore. Right after the announcement voters in Cuyahoga County extended the 1990 sin tax on alcohol and tobacco products to fund renovations to Cleveland Stadium. Modell didn’t take the Browns name with him to Baltimore. He changed the team’s name and colors in order to create a new identity for the team. The NFL agreed to reactivate the Browns in Cleveland by 1999 through the relocation of another team or through NFL expansion. As a result the city of Cleveland decided to use the sin tax funds and tear down the old Cleveland Stadium and build a new venue on the same site. Demolition of the old stadium started in 1996 and was finished in 1997. Construction of the new stadium began in May of 1997 and the stadium was completed in 1999. The NFL held up their end of the agreement and reactivated the Browns for the 1999 season. They were reactivated through the expansion process.

The Browns first regular season game was played in September, 1999 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers shut out the Browns 43 – 0 in the season opener. It’s been a rough road for the Browns since they were reactivated in 1999. The fans have nicknamed the stadium the “Factory of Sadness” because of the poor play of the Browns. The stadium is one of two NFL stadiums that have not hosted a post season game through 2017. When the stadium was completed in 1999 the city decided not to sell the naming rights to the new stadium as a whole. They in turn sold individual naming rights to the four main entrances to the stadium. The naming rights for the gates were awarded to National City Bank, Steris Corporation, CoreComm, Inc, and the Cleveland Clinic. When Randy Lemer sold the Browns to Jimmy Haslem (CEO of Pilot Flying J truck stops) in 2012, Haslem announced that he would sell the naming rights to the stadium. The stadium was renamed to FirstEnergy Stadium when FirstEnergy Corporation acquired the naming rights in 2013. They own the rights through 2029.

The stadium has a natural grass playing surface that consists of Kentucky Bluegrass with a sand-soil root zone. The field also has an underground heating system that uses nine boilers and 40 miles of underground piping. The system keeps the ground from freezing during the cold winters and also extends the turf growing season. The orange stadium seats leave little doubt that you’re in Browns country when you walk into the stadium. They are hard to miss. The old Cleveland Stadium had a bleacher section of seats known as the Dawg Pound. This tradition was carried over to FirstEnergy Stadium. The new Dawg Pound is located in the stadium’s east end and the bleacher seats carry the most expensive seat licenses in the stadium.

In 2014 and 2015 FirstEnergy Stadium went through 2 phases of renovation during the off seasons. The first phase of the renovation included a new audio system, 2 new videos boards which were three times as big as the original scoreboards, LED video boards and ribbons around the stadium, two new escalators at the east and west gates and additional seats in the lower section. The second phase of the renovations included concession improvements, upgrades to technology connectivity, graphics throughout the stadium and enhancing the premium seats. The overall cost of the renovations was approximately $120 million. The city of Cleveland paid $30 million over a fifteen year period and the team covered the rest of the costs. The original seating capacity of the stadium was over 73,000 but it was reduced to just over 68,000 after the renovations were completed.

Over the years the stadium has hosted other events such as college football, high school football and international soccer. There have been concerts at the stadium as well. George Strait was the first concert at the stadium in 2000. Other artists that have performed at FirstEnergy Stadium are NSYNC, Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan and U2 to name a few.

If you are planning to attend an event at the stadium you should plan to arrive early because there is no public parking at the stadium. It is recommended that people use lots north of Superior Avenue and south of North Marginal Road. There are also several parking facilities adjacent to the stadium. They are the Port Authority visitors lot, the West 3rd Street parking lot and the Great lakes Science Center parking garage. The stadium is also served by Cleveland’s Waterfront Light Rail Line at the West 3rd Street station. If you are going to a Browns’ game in the winter be sure to dress for it. The wind coming off the lake can be unbearable.

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