The Browns have "backed out of a deal that would have relocated the team’s training camp to Columbus" in '18, according to Rick Rouan of the COLUMBUS DISPATCH. The Browns informed the city and Franklin County on Wednesday that they "would not be moving forward with the deal" and will keep training camp in Berea, Ohio. Under the proposal, the Browns and Franklin County "each would have contributed" $5M. The city would have "covered the rest" of the estimated $15-17M to "tear down the existing recreation center, just north of the Ohio State campus, and build a new, larger facility." The deal was "still a concept earlier this month, but appeared to be on its way to completion." The partnership would have given the Browns "direct access to fans in a city without a pro football team where it competes for attention" with the Bengals and Steelers. The Browns also "planned to work with youth football programs in Columbus." A source said that the deal, as constructed, "was not a factor in the decision." This is the second time this year that a "plan to relocate the Browns training camp has fallen through." Earlier this year, the Columbus Partnership, a group of local CEOs, "withdrew a request" for $5M in state funding for a Browns training facility in Columbus (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 12/29). In Akron, Nate Ulrich writes, "The more the organization’s bigwigs talked about relocating camp to Columbus, the more they began to fully realize the magnitude of the logistical challenges and the amount of effort that moving camp there would present" (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 12/29). In Cleveland, Mary Kay Cabot in a front-page piece writes the Browns knew a Columbus move would be a "huge undertaking logistically, and now didn't feel like the right time" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 12/29).
