Jimmy Haslam Exploring Options for Retractable Roof on Browns Stadium
September 19, 2012WFNY Podcast – 2012-09-19 – Craig and TD talk Tribe and Browns
September 19, 2012There are some really important decisions to make about front-office personnel, coaching and stadium issues, but I have some less relevant things that Jimmy Haslam should probably tackle when he finally officially becomes owner of the Browns. Here they are in non slide show format…
5. Start an obsolete Browns jersey trade-in program
I don’t know what the appropriate denominations are to make this program work, but it is high time that Cleveland Browns fans everywhere be given special amnesty for the hosts of bad jerseys that have been purchased over the years. Even a fan favorite like Chris Spielman is an utter debacle from the perspective of consumerism. Additionally, and more seriously, the obsolete jerseys running around the circles of Cleveland Browns fans is reinforcing the exact culture that Jimmy Haslam is coming in to change. It doesn’t do anyone in the world any bit of good to be at the same tailgate with some guy wearing a much-too-bright-and-clean Jake Delhomme jersey. Even worse, what team with Trent Richardson needs to be reminded of the failures of William Green, Travis Prentice, and even Peyton Hillis? Offer a voucher to get at least a high percentage of those bad boys off the street.
4. Improve training camp seating and maybe capacity
Cleveland Browns training camp is run very well right now. It’s free, the players make themselves accessible and the staff is generally pretty nice. Even the walk up the street from Baldwin-Wallace, while not ideal, is far from an issue. Once you are inside and want to see some practice action, it is much more difficult. The space along the side is tight. The bleachers are extra tiny and the lack of elevation makes it almost impossible to see for many of the fans.
I don’t have the solution for this. I don’t know if the Browns should move their training camp, or if they can improve upon the facility in Berea to make it bigger and easier to see. All I know is that I am jealous when I see pics like the ones from Bills training camp at St. John Fisher College in Rochester.
3. Create a singular brand identity for the team
The only thing worse than not having a real identity as a football team is enduring the constant debate about it. Should the Browns be the Dawgs? Should the team really be able to capitalize on something that was created organically by a couple of players and wholly embraced by the fans? Should they bring back the elf? What color jerseys are the Browns going to wear and when? I think these can be somewhat important questions, but indecision and throwing a bunch of things against the wall is not any kind of answer. The Browns need to figure it out, be decisive and go with it. If it’s the Dawgs? Fine. If it is the elf? Do it. Just do something and try to tick off as few people as possible. Just end the silly debate on the topic, please. It has almost nothing to do with football and this fan-base is forced to reckon with it because ownership hasn’t been able to do so.
2. More web streaming
Maybe this is a little too specific for an online writer who covers the Browns but gets shut out for access once training camp ends, but it would be nice to have more accessibility to live press conferences. Cleveland Browns fans have a voracious appetite and having been to camp live, I’ve seen how the players and coaches are corralled by the media. It really wouldn’t take much to bring a few more events to the podiums that are connected to the website. They have a media room and set up a media tent during training camp. If it is in Jimmy Haslam’s power, he ought to use it all more. (Either that or allow certain online entities more access to the team.)
1. Cheerleaders
This seems like an easy one. I know Jimmy Haslam is coming over from Pittsburgh and they don’t have cheerleaders, but so what? Haslam also made the rounds visiting both the Patriots and Cowboys recently, if I’m not mistaken. Both of those teams have cheerleaders. The Patriots cheerleaders even have a swimsuit calendar for sale. Obviously this doesn’t actually matter, but it can’t hurt either. It’s an extra group of attractive people in the community on an annual basis. We’ve seen the Cavaliers dance squad, so we know it can be done in Cleveland.
And that’s the end of my list. Certainly the list of important things would never stop. Can you think of any non-essential things that I missed? And yes, this whole topic should avoid comments like, “I just want the team to win.” It’s too obvious and meaningless to say that. Every team wants to do that whether they’re qualified to do it or not.
But you see, even a team that is unqualified to win can start a cheer-leading squad.
73 Comments
#5 seems pretty stupid, that just might be me though.
Liked ^ like 60 times
Non-essential? I think all of these are absolutely essential.
Bringing back the white facemasks should be a priority.
I take #5 very seriously
Turning in a Ben Gay jersey should be worth season tickets. Because that’s a GEM
the jersey trade in program would be honestly an awesome idea.
i would take full advantage of it.
they could possibly use the jerseys traded in as a donation type deal or something of the sort.
How about building an infrastructure so cell phones actually work inside the stadium?
re:
Start an obsolete Browns jersey trade-in program
Soooo… We were supposed to hang on to all of those? Since 99 I’ve had a Couch, Green, Winslow, Edwards, Garcia, & Brown jersey. I’m currently in possession of none of those except my Edwards jersey that has a piece of tape over it with SIPE written in.
Charlie you are from Willard and we will always like you for that. Lee not so much.
no logos, no roof (on gamedays), and no cheerleaders.
if they want cheerleaders, invite 4 local HS squads per week.
next thing you know you’ll want to change the colors to teal and silver or something.
because it is so easy to handle 100K (including those in surrounding tailgating areas) cell phones all pinging the same network server at the same time continuously? not to mention that the internet feeds are diversed per provider, etc.
be patient, service will continually get better as companies like LSI (they do the networking servers) figure out how to best provide utilization in high traffic areas. cell phone usage is still growing exponentially (considering data, etc.) and these companies are still playing catchup.
So why does my phone work in The Shoe, and not CBS..? It’s not an issue of “can’t” it’s an issue of “want to.” Nobody said it was easy but its far from impossible, impractical, etc.
Wish I could up vote this 1000x
NO dome, NO logo and NO CHEERLEADERS in Cleveland!
I HAVE one! Where’s the tix?
i’d have to see a network map of the area, but my guess would be that it has alot to do with the geographic nature of CBS being on the lake.
whereas the Shoe may have 8-10 regional network stations in all directions, CBS likely has 4-5 all Southerly from the Stadium. add in the virtual wasteland East and it might be lower than that number.
while it is nice to fix such issues, the reality is that there are only 10 home games a year that have this issue and networking stations (w/ the servers) are not cheap to build and maintain (or place). so, for 10 of 365days of the year, it sucks.
perhaps Haslam devotes some money into building a couple stations, but it will likely take an infrastructure overhaul to properly fix (and that will come in time)
If beginning next year the Browns go 8-8, 10-6, and 11-5 we won’t want Haslam to do anything but stand still so we can genuflect without hurting ourselves.
Winning makes Berea roomy, the perfect brand appear and the old jerseys charming. Like a Thornton jersey at Jacobs Field in 1996.
I have far too many.. Northcutt, Couch,Jamir Miller, Hillis, Gardocki (yes the punter), and I also had a winslow and edwards but I have since given them away/threw out.
I turned my Edwards jersey into a Delhomme, then turned the 7 -> 2 and made it McCoy, and most recently added a “+” out of tape between the 1 and 2 to make Weeden.
I don’t know about that.. There’s also probably close to twice as many people in & around the Shoe vs CBS.
Exchange program for jerseys would not be bad though. Hire a few people to have Orange, brown, or white letters to put a current roster player on a jersey for like $10. They could do it while the person waits, just bring some old ladies from the senior citizens center and give them $8 or $9 for each jersey completed.
No to the elf. A million times NO.
When the Blue Jackets traded Jeff Carter this February (who wore #7) to LA for Jack Johnson (who chose to wear #7 in Columbus), the team had a night where people could bring their Carter jerseys in and get the name switched for free. In a season of complete and utter chaos, it was a beautiful move on the part of the team’s PR.
Agree, agree, eh…..
Seems like a logical, well-reasoned argument. Kidding of course. Care to expand on that?
Elf over the dog though…
NO CHEERLEADERS – worst suggestion ever! Why don’t you add putting a logo on the helmet and having a heated dome with astroturf to the list as well then.
Cheerleaders? Um, no, no, no, no, and no.
These aren’t cheerleaders that other teams employ. They are little more than strippers with a Sunday afternoon second job. They look absolutely classless and tacky, and their absence is one of the great things about both the Browns and the Steelers organizations and games. In fact, it is one of the only reasons that my wife has stomached being an ancillary Browns fan for 13 years. I can’t tell you how nice it is during those rare games between non-cheerleadered teams to not have the TV camera do a close up on exotic dancers at every commercial break and between every snap – particularly when my six-year-old daughter is watching with me.
There’s a venue for that stuff. If you want it, go get it – but for all that is good in this world, please do not foist them on my Browns.
Let’s get a marching band to go along with the cheerleaders. Half the time the Browns team looks llike a High School team anyways. Let’s continue with that vibe.
Somebody gave you a “-1” for being a huge nerd. That’s funny.
I really like this idea, but there’s no #40 on the roster right now. What do I do?
Strippers you say……?
i’ve been getting negative marks my whole life for being a huge nerd. nothing new here other than it’s trackable 🙂
All 5 people that bought Phil Dawson jerseys in ’99 can’t understand #5….since when in Cleveland Brown history do you get 12+ years worth of use out of your best players’ jersey?!?
put a ‘4’ over the ‘0’ and ‘Kelly’ on the back?
I was thinking maybe making the name “Dawson x10.”
i gotta ask, how on earth does your cellphone work in The Shoe on gameday? As a current student I haven’t had service there in years.
I’m not sure I can answer ‘how’.. but I’m always able to tweet from inside the stadium I also send and receive texts regularly.
#5 was tried once before, you got like 30% off a new jersey in the team shop when you turned in an old one. Problem was, the program was only run for about two weeks and was only available to people at the Stadium in game days. I was a big proponent of the program and was disappointed when it wasn’t extended. Biggest issue is that the Browns don’t control the merch in the Stadium, it’s a third-party vendor.
5. Yes please. Even if it’s just a $10 voucher per jersey or something, this would be fantastic. Then send the collected ones out into the world like they do with the Super Bowl loser’s swag.
4. I’ve never experienced training camp in person, so I don’t know. I trust folks who have been there, and if they think it can be improved, then go for it.
3. This one seems…unnecessary to me. I mean, is the Elf vs. Dawg thing really THAT big a deal for folks? I happen to like both a great deal, and would be disappointed to see either disappear entirely. Maybe dawgs as the current “theme”, but keep the elf as the throwback style? No need to lose either though, in my opinion.
2. I’m all for increased access, though it only really matters if it is substantive. Do we need more ways to watch a coach not answer questions?
1. Look, I get the appeal. But I am an admitted and proud traditionalist when it comes to my teams. I actually think the idea of having cheerleaders from various high schools in the area serve the role each week–what a cool honor for them. I realize that doesn’t allow (most) of the pervy crowd to ogle as intently as professional team cheerleaders would (Kevin Spacey disagrees), but if you’re coming to a game for that, you have deeper issues. I could settle for a compromise of allowing cheer squads form the various local institutions of higher education serve the purpose.
No logos on the helmets, though I could live with numbers if need be (Bama style). No changes to the unis. A roof only if it’s retractable and not automatically closed for snow. Name the stadium, don’t name it–no big deal either way.
I like hot women. I like the chance that one of them might sleep with their student and be on deadspin and make everyone go LOL. I want cheerleaders!!!
+1 for nerd-dom
NO
sorry, but infinite*10 is still infinite. so, you cannot increase Dawson’s number because Phil is infinitely awesome.
Agree. Using girls dressed and dancing that way started as a rip-off of the bikini/spike heels girl who parades the sign around the boxing ring while the neanderthals ringside all hoot. Now it’s family friendly entertainment, I guess.
4 – Number of points his FGs should be worth because of length, difficulty and weather effects
You really bought a Peyton Hillis Jersey?…
Take the 4 off and put “Superbowls” as the name
No, it was a Christmas gift from my family. It’s the only Browns jersey I’ve ever owned (apart from the Brian Sipe awesomeness that I wore out when I was 8).
I still have a Craig Krenzel #16 OSU jersey, though. Still a proud purchaser of that one – also the only one I’ve ever owned.
I’m always first.