May 18, 2013

Schefter: Browns hire Cowboys Alec Scheiner as President

December 18, 2012 by 20 Comments

The Cleveland Browns might be waiting until the end of the year to make decisions on existing personnel (Mike Holmgren and Dimitri Patterson excluded,) but they are adding to the corporate hierarchy. Adam Schefter reports on Twitter that the Browns have lured away one of Jerry Jones’ “right hand” men.

So who, exactly is Alec Scheiner? Sports Business Daily has some clues.

But Scheiner has made his mark in other ways in sports. As the general counsel for the Dallas Cowboys, Scheiner has his fingerprints on almost every key off-field decision, most notably the planning, financing and construction of the team’s new stadium.

Now with the stadium done, Scheiner is looking to broaden his role. “I have tried to transition my role a bit with the help of the Joneses and not pigeonhole myself into being just an attorney,” he said.

Apparently Scheiner has found an opportunity to be more than “just an attorney” as President of the Cleveland Browns. I am not sure exactly where that fits on the organizational chart below owner Jimmy Haslam and with relation to CEO Joe Banner, but I’m sure we’ll find out shortly.

“I am looking forward to this challenge with the Browns, which I view as a tremendous opportunity to start at the ground level with a new and exciting leadership group,” said Scheiner. “Jimmy Haslam and Joe Banner have a great vision of what they want the Cleveland Browns to become and I am grateful to be able to be a part of it. The Browns are an iconic franchise with an outstanding fan base and tradition. Together, we hope to do incredible things for the organization and Northeast Ohio.”

Now, about that Jimmy-Dome…

[Related:Grossi: Josh McDaniels and Mike Lombardi likely to become Joe Banner’s puppets]

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  • MrCleaveland

    Cleveland Browns Cheerleaders R-rated Calendar, here we come!

  • mgbode

    so when Holmgren was meeting with Jerry in Dallas it was just to occupy him while Banner/Haslam stole one of his trusted FO people?

  • mgbode

    so is Scheiner the guy who has to quickly agree with Jerry or is he the one who cleans Jerry’s glasses while someone else is nodding their head and saying how brilliant Jerry is being.

  • mgbode

    Ok, so I know as much as anyone about this guy (pretty much nothing). Here is a summary of his accomplishments from the MIT Sloan Conference site:

    http://www.sloansportsconference.com/?p=88

  • ThatAlex

    This vagueness with the balance of power with the team and which role handles which responsibilities can’t be a plus for any new GM or head coach looking at the Browns.

  • mgbode

    then why is everyone else reporting that this is a great hire and that Haslam/Banner are supposedly just starting what is expected to be “an allstar cast of executives?”

    http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8759938/sources-alec-scheiner-become-new-president-cleveland-browns

  • ThatAlex

    I wasn’t discussing the merits of Scheiner himself, he may very well be a great hire. However typically front office people want as much power as possible, and having to deal with a complicated corporate hierarchy can’t be seen as an incentive for new people looking into the organization.

  • Slooz

    If this foreshadows a power play to foist the cost of stadium upgrades upon the taxpayers, then I’m not happy about the hire at all. Here’s hoping that Scheiner has other skills to contribute besides using the NFL’s legal monopoly power to bleed America’s most loyal fanbases of yet more hard-earned, recession-dampened cash. And if that is the case, here’s hoping Cleveland does a better job than Dallas of fighting that.

    “As the general counsel for the Dallas Cowboys, Scheiner has his fingerprints on almost every key off-field decision, most notably the planning, financing and construction of the team’s new stadium.”

  • mgbode

    as long as roles are properly defined, it should be a good thing. and Scheiner is on the business side of things as president anyway.

  • Harv 21

    Not sure why it’s complicated. Banner knows what his duties are and all flows up to Banner. What’s more complicated is throwing the keys to a 60-something former coach with no exec experience and saying, do whatcha want, holla at me if you need more money.
    Me, I’ll give this a chance after what we’ve seen the last 13 years.

  • woofersus

    Or maybe he knew that position was likely to open up in Dallas soon and wanted to get some face time.

  • Henry Brown

    Because this is Cleveland where hiring professionals you’re familiar with ends up being a 2 year conspiracy to pad the lining of your agent’s pockets.

  • bossman09

    Uhm, you know Jerry paid for 75% of Jerryworld himself right? of the 1.1 billion or so, only 325 came from the tax payers. So imaging that is we coughed up the same amount we paid in taxes for the browns stadium, but instead of the 10 games we get a year in the current statium, we got a world class facility that was used year round… boy, I can only pray we get screwed that bad…

  • bossman09

    Please name the last hire that wasn’t praised by a good portion of the national media. I can still find credible sites saying Shurmur isn’t a bad coach for gods sake.

  • porckchopexpress

    I don’t live in Cuyahoga County so I dont really have a dog in the fight but going back to Gateway I have a problem with these types of publicly financed projects. First of all lets not sniff at the Three Hundred Million Dollars that Jerry Jones got from the public, its not “only 325 million”, its a huge some of money, and the only person who is guaranteed a return on that investment is Jerry Jones.

    Now if I’m in Cuyahoga County and I’m asked to buy a $200-300 bond to finance a dome for the stadium, and it is clearly spelled out when and how much money will be returned to me then I’m on board.

    However, if I moved across the border from Twinsburg to Brecksville, or any outlying community I would really not benefit from a downtown stadium – In fact it would most likely hurt me. If I own an entertainment spot in Strongsville what is my motivation to encourage people to drive to downtown Cleveland for their entertainment? So I’m getting taxed $200-300 dollars, and I’m told that I will recoup this money through the vagaries of trickle down economics (New stadium = increased business potential = more jobs = HUGE unexplained blank space where money returns to me) then no thanks. If Haslem gets near assuredness of profit (the NFL hasn’t lost money in my lifetime) then I want assuredness of profit for helping him out. Haslem earns in a day what I and my wife earn in a year so I’m not exactly keen on giving him free money even if it is “only” 300 million dollars.

    I’m not trying to get political but I find it ironic that Jimmy Haselm was one of the single largest contributors to a Presidential campaign that howled about not raising taxes and one of the first moves he’d be in favor of as owner of the Browns is a huge tax raise. They are very different from you and me indeed.

  • porckchopexpress

    and yes I misspelled sum, mock away :)

  • mgbode

    http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2012/12/18/transcript-conference-call-with-browns-president-alec-scheiner-ceo-joe-banner/

    there’s the intro press conference transcript. and we can go through the others. let’s not assume that Haslam is going to ask for publically financed money just yet. i haven’t seen him intimate that though they are playing with alot of ideas.

  • Vindictive_Pat

    I doubt this guy has much of anything to do with actual on-field operations, and since I live in Virginia I don’t care much about stadium upgrade taxpayer controversies, although I can understand how others might be concerned. This is very ho-hum for me.

  • Porckchopexpress

    Like I said its not my issue one way or the other. I was only disagreeing with Bosans assertion that it is in the publics benefit to finance these monstrosities without a guaranteed return on investment. And while they havent asked for momey yet no stadium has bee n financed without some form of public help so I think its safe to assume the billionaire will come begging at some point

  • mgbode

    yes, plenty of economic papers have been done to demonstrate that the ROI is not there for most places. JerryWorld will actually be an interesting case-study in it because they went all-out in terms of on-site experience and are also trying to infuse Arlington with businesses (6Flags & Rangers Ballpark are there too).

    I just see them as still figuring out what they even want to do.