Name: Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam hope to have fans at FirstEnergy Stadium & will support players such as Baker Mayfield who choose to kneel for the national anthem
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Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam hope to have fans at FirstEnergy Stadium & will support players such as Baker Mayfield who choose to kneel for the national anthem

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NEW!1,924sharesBEREA, Ohio — Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam missed the roar of the crowd at training camp Sunday when Odell Beckham Jr. caught a one-handed sideline pass or Nick Chubb rushed for a touchdown.“We’re really excited to be back in the building obviously,’' Dee said on a videoconference call. “It’s great to be out there with the players and be involved. I can tell you this, and you probably could sense it, too, we really missed the fans. It’s made a big difference not having them out there with us. Just really strange and miss our fans so much. I am sure the players do, too. That has been something that has been very different.‘'Jimmy Haslam agreed.“It is eerily quiet out there as you all observed,’' he said. “Dee is right, we miss the fans. Normally, we would have had three or four thousand people out there today. I think players, coaches – I can’t speak for you all – but certainly ownership missed having our great fans out there and giving them the opportunity to see our guys up close.‘'But the Haslams are still holding out hope that they can have fans in the stands at FirstEnergy Stadium this season, beginning with the Sept. 17th Thursday Night Football home opener against the Bengals. If they get their wish, about 13,000 to 14,000 fans would be permitted, or about 20% of capacity.The final decision rests with Governor Mike DeWine.“There has been a task force of Ohio State, pro baseball [teams] – I don’t know if pro basketball is involved – and pro football [teams] that have been working closely with the governor’s office for the last 8-10 weeks,’' Haslam said. “We’ve also been working closely with the City of Cleveland. I think both of those have gone well. We have put a lot of time, effort and resources into ensuring that if we did have ’20 percent fans’ it could be a safe experience. We feel good about that opportunity. Obviously, the final decision is up to the governor, but we are ready and excited to go, and I think the City of Cleveland feels the same way.”Jimmy Haslam said there’s no timeframe for a decision even with the home big day just a month away.“Everybody has to remain fluid and flexible in everything we do,’' he said. “I think we have all learned to do that over the last four or five months.”They stressed the importance of bringing people safely back downtown— not just for Browns games.“Listen, we all understand that health and safety come first,’' Jimmy said. “I just think as a country, as a state and as a city – we say the same things back in Tennessee – this is what we’re trying to do in the NFL. As I said, none of us know if this is going to work, but we are going to give it our best try and do so in a safe manor. We need to have a ‘Hey, how can we make this work [approach]? Is there a way to make this work?’“We get it that not having 65,000 people down there eight games is a major blow a lot of people that work at the stadium and all the businesses around there. Dee and I had dinner with another couple last night, and his office is downtown. He just talked about how there is nobody down there. “The sooner we can safely get people back to work, the better off we’re going to be. We’re going to do everything we can at the Browns and would encourage other businesses to do the same. At the same time, at the end of the day, it is not our call about how many fans we have in the stands on Sunday or if we have fans in the stands.‘'Dee Haslam noted that it’s harder to come back with all of the safety protocols in place, “but downtown is taking a significant blow, and every business that can get back and open safely would be really important to the future of downtown.“Right now, what we’re talking about is how we get fans in the stadium and how we open downtown. That is our focus right now.”The Haslams will also fully support Baker Mayfield and the other players who choose to kneel for the “One of the great things about this country, one of the many great things, is the ability to have freedom of speech and being able to express yourself so we are going support our players,‘'Jimmy Haslam said. “At the same time, I think all too much attention is called to whether somebody kneels or stands or what their statement is and not nearly enough attention is called to what they do afterward. “Dee and I can issue some great statement, but what you all really ought to look at is what ourselves, our coaches and our players are doing the rest of the week, if you will, to make this country a better place to live, work and raise a family.”Haslam said the Browns are prepared to deal with the fallout of players kneeling to protest racial inequality. Mayfield said Friday he has no qualms about doing so because ‘right is right and wrong is wrong’ and he’ll absorb the backlash.“One of the unfortunate things in the country today is that there is not enough thoughtful dialogue like, ‘Baker, tell me why you think it is important,‘’' Haslam said. “Or if so-and-so is not kneeling, ‘Tell me why you are not kneeling.’ There’s just all of this condemnation from one side versus the other, rather than everybody trying to understand, ‘Well, why is that important to you, Baker? You are a thoughtful young man. You understand the ramifications.’ We are going to be fully supportive of our players, no matter what they decide to do. We just ask that as a country we have a lot more thoughtful dialogue.”The Browns and their players have been at the forefront of social justice initiatives since Colin Kaepernick began kneeling in 2016, including ride-a-longs with the Cleveland police, donating to inner-city schools and much more. “It’s listening to each other and learning from each other,’' Dee Haslam said. “I know Andrew Berry launched the #BeTheSolution campaign, and the biggest part of that was to listen and learn – listen to each other instead of just throwing somebody under the bus for not wanting to believe the way you want to. That’s what makes our country great is we can be different, have different beliefs and be respectful about that. Somewhere along the line, we completely lost that respect, and the civil discourse, [the respect] is gone. Hopefully, we can get that back, and maybe we can be an example of that.”New Browns face masks for sale: More Browns coverageNote to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

NEW!1,924sharesBEREA, Ohio — Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam missed the roar of the crowd at training camp Sunday when Odell Beckham Jr. caught a one-handed sideline pass or Nick Chubb rushed for a touchdown.“We’re really excited to be back in the building obviously,’' Dee said on a videoconference call. “It’s great to be out there with the players and be involved. I can tell you this, and you probably could sense it, too, we really missed the fans. It’s made a big difference not having them out there with us. Just really strange and miss our fans so much. I am sure the players do, too....

Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam hope to have fans at FirstEnergy Stadium & will support players such as Baker Mayfield who choose to kneel for the national anthem

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