Cleveland Browns Announce Early End of FirstEnergy Stadium Naming Rights Deal

In a joint announcement on Thursday, the Cleveland Browns and FirstEnergy announced the two sides reached an “amicable decision” to end the energy giant’s naming rights deal for the football stadium.

The stadium will revert to its original name, Cleveland Browns Stadium, though the Haslams are likely to begin the pursuit for a new sponsorship opportunity any minute now.

FirstEnergy in 2013 signed a 17-year, $102-million deal for the naming rights. It ends seven years early.

“Since we signed this agreement ten years ago, our priorities have shifted as the company evolved from a competitive energy supplier to a regulated utility, and as a result, our corporate initiatives must also evolve,” said John Somerhalder, interim president and CEO in statement.

Those shifts include bribing Larry Householder in the HB6 scandal and dealing with the ensuing avalanche of bad press, legal implications, government fines, and the likelihood that former executives will soon be indicted following the guilty verdict in the trial of Householder and Matt Borges.

The Haslams had faced pressure from Cleveland city council and statewide Democratic lawmakers to strip FirstEnergy’s name from the stadium, and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb said during budget hearings that it would be a key point in the upcoming discussions about how much the city will contribute to planned renovations.

Council, in a statement, said it “is pleased to hear of the name change and that the Cleveland Browns are restoring the original name of Cleveland Browns Stadium for the upcoming season. Clevelanders own the stadium, and it is only fitting to call it by a name of which we can all be proud.”
The team, for its part, put some words together that mean nothing.

“We’ve had a great association with FirstEnergy for more than two decades, and we appreciate this partnership and what it has created for our team and the broader northeast Ohio community,” Dave Jenkins, Haslam Sports Group COO said in a release. “We reached this amicable agreement that is consistent with the productive relationship we have always enjoyed, and we wish FirstEnergy success with their future initiatives.”