Councilman wants Firstenergy’s name off stadium
CLEVELAND — A Cleveland lawmaker is calling for Firstenergy Corp.’s name to be removed from the city’s stadium in a resolution he plans to introduce to Cleveland City Council.
Brian Kazy is asking council to urge Firstenergy to relinquish naming rights for the Cleveland Browns, which the company has had for nearly 10 years.
Firstenergy has been a corporate partner of the Browns since 1999, when the city-owned stadium was built. The company became the team’s naming rights sponsor in 2013, when the 68,000-seat Cleveland Browns Stadium was renamed Firstenergy Stadium. The deal is worth $102 million over 17 years.
Last year, Firstenergy agreed to a $230 million penalty for bribing former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and Sam Randazzo, former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
The scheme involved having the Ohio Legislature pass House Bill 6, a $1 billion bailout for two nuclear plants owned by Firstenergy Solutions, among other benefits to the company.
“Simply, I don’t believe that the municipally-owned stadium that the Cleveland Browns play in should bear the name of this tainted company,” Kazy said in a release. “The sign, seen as people enter Cleveland, gives the impression that they represent the city. This is false.”
The resolution reads as follows:
“This Council believes that First Energy applied political pressure using phony citizen groups and paid out significant dollars to restrict or destroy Cleveland Public Power and to influence or control this Council,” the resolution states. “That First Energy continues to market itself using the public’s taxpayer-funded stadium signifies its failure to fully acknowledge its criminal behavior and unintentionally implies community support for a criminal enterprise.”
In response, the Browns organization said Firstenergy “has been a dedicated partner to the Cleveland Browns, not only on naming rights of the stadium but also on our efforts to improve the lives of many members of the Northeast Ohio community through our youth football and education initiatives.”
The football team said Firstenergy has “taken meaningful action” to address the bribery scandal “and are committed to upholding a culture of integrity and accountability by installing the appropriate policies and procedures going forward.”
The team also said Firstenergy is a “significant regional employer and strong contributor to the economy of Northeast Ohio, and we remain committed to our relationship and look forward to our continued partnership.”
Kazy is not the first to call on the city to drop its association with Firstenergy.
Last year, Ohio 15th Congressional District Rep. Jeffrey Crossman, D-parma, and 8th District Rep. Kent Smith, D-euclid, asked Browns managing partners and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson to drop their association with the company.
In response to Kazy’s proposed resolution, Jennifer Young, Firstenergy manager of external communications, reissued a statement the company made in response to the letter by Crossman and Smith.
She said the company “has a longstanding commitment to supporting communities through sponsorship of civic, athletic and arts organizations.”
“We have taken swift action to address events that have occurred over the past year and to ensure a culture of strong ethics, integrity and accountability at the company,” she added. “We look forward to continuing as a valued partner with all the communities in which we live and work.”