Long before ground is broken on the Browns’ planned $2.4 billion domed stadium in suburban Brook Park, Ohio, the club has faced a series of legal and financial obstacles to the project. Now, yet another hurdle is coming through the air, so to speak. 

The NFL team has received formal notice from the Ohio Department of Transportation that it is not issuing a permit for the planned Brook Park stadium because it would interfere with air traffic at nearby Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

The Browns, owned by Haslam Sports Group, plan to recess the stadium about 80 feet into the ground, but still top out at 221 feet above ground. That plan, however, is 58 feet higher than the maximum allowable height for that location, according to ODOT’s aviation office.

“Please contact our office to request a permit at these reduced heights,” ODOT wrote in a letter to HSG representatives. “This structure may also be permitted at your proposed height at another location further away from the airport.”

The Browns and HSG say they are “confused” by ODOT’s notice, and the basis for it, particularly given that they already received Federal Aviation Administration clearance for the project—provided there are red lights on the roof to help guide passing pilots. The FAA, however, has no jurisdiction over local zoning. 

The team has a series of options in addition to altering the stadium plan, including requesting a formal appeal of the ruling. 

“We’ve already begun working collaboratively with ODOT to explain the stadium’s heights and the detailed work we’ve done more fully, which shows no safety or efficiency issues to the airport,” said HSG spokesman Peter John-Baptiste in a statement. “We look forward to resolving this matter expeditiously and continuing our work to bring this transformative project to Northeast Ohio.”

Myriad Issues

Late last month, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said there is “a 99.9% chance” of the Brook Park stadium happening while also acknowledging inherent difficulties around the effort.

“This is a complicated project,” Haslam said. “There’s stuff going on. It’s three and a half years until the stadium opens, and we will have to work hard every day to get everything to come together.”

Other issues surrounding the stadium include a lawsuit challenging the use of unclaimed state funds to support public construction bonds. The city of Cleveland is also fighting the team’s planned departure from the downtown Huntington Bank Field, and some local media are suggesting that Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb is behind the new, aviation-related issue. 

“Who runs the airport? The city of Cleveland, Mayor Justin Bibb,” said Cleveland.com editor Chris Quinn. “I think Mayor Justin Bibb has come up with the winning strategy to block this thing because he’s dead set against it.”

Bibb has not acknowledged that, but Cuyahoga County executive Chris Ronayne, another opponent of the Brook Park stadium, also was critical of the potential impact on the airport.

“We cannot emphasize enough that downtown Cleveland is the best location for the stadium, both for the team and the residents of Cuyahoga County,” he said. 

QB Decision

The Browns, meanwhile, said Monday that veteran quarterback Joe Flacco, 40, will be the team’s Week 1 starter, ending what had been building intrigue around the decision.

The team has a particularly crowded quarterback room that includes fifth-round draft pick Shedeur Sanders.

Will the College Football Playoff turn into March Madness?

The latest postseason expansion proposal from the Big Ten—which would see the CFP grow to 24 or 28 teams—furthers recent efforts from college football leaders to make the Playoff even more of a made-for-TV showcase than it already is.

Earlier this summer, as most of the expansion discussion centered on a 16-team Playoff, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti made his case for a model that would allow his conference to create a “play-in weekend” of games, with four automatic CFP bids. “That’s a great weekend for college football,” Petitti said on The Joel Klatt Show. “The best way to market the sport is to play more good games.”

That idea was supported by SMU football coach Rhett Lashlee, who proposed something similar for not just the ACC but all Power 4 conferences. “Imagine if Championship Saturday every year right after Thanksgiving was your four Power 4 conference championship games, and you have a 3 versus 6 and a 4 versus 5 in every conference playing to try to get in a 16-team Playoff,” Lashlee said at ACC media days. “It would be like March Madness Thursday and Friday. It would be the best Saturday that college football could ever manufacture.”

Numbers Game

More CFP games would put college football fans’ appetites for postseason action to the test.

During the first year of the 12-team CFP, the four first-round games averaged 10.6 million viewers on ESPN and TNT Sports platforms, and the four quarterfinal matchups averaged 16.9 million viewers on ESPN platforms.

The Big Ten’s newest expansion proposal would potentially eliminate conference championship games. Last season, just two title games topped 10 million viewers: the SEC’s (Georgia-Texas, 16.6 million on ABC) and the Big Ten’s (Oregon–Penn State, 10.5 million on CBS).

FCS Paving the Way?

Division I FCS teams already annually compete in a 24-team Playoff that sees the top eight teams in the bracket receive first-round byes. Higher-seeded teams typically host the Playoff games on their campus until the neutral-site championship game.

The debut of CFP home games was a major success last season, and the idea of playing more games on college campuses—regardless of expansion—has gained traction. 

However, while there has been mostly positive reaction to expanding the CFP to 16 teams, growing beyond that number could receive pushback, like what the NCAA is facing around its efforts to expand March Madness from 68 to 72 or 76 teams.

Carlos Alcaraz vs. Jannik Sinner: Part IV was set to be a preview of the US Open. Instead, it may be a sign that the door is open for the rest of the field at this year’s final Grand Slam.

Sinner retired from the final of the Cincinnati Open on Monday “due to illness,” handing Alcaraz the title for the ATP 1000 tournament and its record $1.1 million prize. It was the fourth time since May that the two have played in a tournament final, with Alcaraz winning at the Italian Open and French Open, and Sinner taking the most recent face-off in Wimbledon.

The win brings Alcaraz to nearly $48.5 million in career earnings. He remains sixth in the world, but closed the gap to Alexander Zverev, who is close to $54.5 million after being knocked out in the Cincinnati semis by Alcaraz.

Sinner won around $600,000 for his runner-up finish in Cincinnati—which had a prize pool of $9.2 million, up 35% from last year. He is up to $46.2 million, good for eighth all-time and less than $1 million back of Daniil Medvedev for seventh.

Cincy Crown, Open Lock?

The Cincinnati Open, which debuted its $260 million upgrades this year, has long served as a preview for the US Open. For the last two years, the two tournaments have shared the same men’s and women’s singles champions (2023: Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic, 2024: Aryna Sabalenka and Sinner).

It’s unclear whether Sinner’s illness will linger into next week and hamper his US Open title defense. 

Regardless of whether Sinner is ready, Monday’s loss means he will relinquish the top spot in the world rankings for the first time since June 2024. Alcaraz will enter the US Open as the top-ranked men’s player, reclaiming the top spot for the first time since September 2023.

Ahead of Monday’s final, Alcaraz referred to Sinner as “the best player in the world on hard court, and probably on every surface.”