A former City Hall insider called Cleveland's $100M Browns deal months ago — down to the dollar

Why it matters: Silliman is an authority on stadium deals, having negotiated on the city's behalf for decades, and wrote a book on the subject in 2023.

The latest: He told Axios via email that he had no special knowledge of the deal at the time and was merely speculating.

• He assumed $30 million in demolition costs — derived by looking at the demolition of RFK stadium in D.C. — and added $70 million for lakefront development.

Context: Silliman has been vocally opposed to the Brook Park stadium on regional economic grounds, and has said the Haslams should pay for 100% of the new stadium costs.

What they're saying: "One reason I have been so consistent in my opposition to the dome is that — and I can't state this strongly enough — unlike virtually every sports deal I worked on in City Hall where there was either a direct or indirect threat of team relocation, there is no such threat from the Browns today," Silliman told Axios.

• "The Haslams have from the start had ZERO negotiating leverage to extract their public subsidy asks (which makes the State legislature's $600 million gift so galling)."