The Cleveland Browns’ next home is quite literally being built from the bottom up. In a Nov. 2 inside look at construction of the new Huntington Bank Field in Brook Park, Sports Business Journal reported that crews are digging 90 feet below ground to meet Federal Aviation Administration requirements, because the enclosed stadium is rising right next to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and its height above ground has to stay within strict limits.
The project is pushing toward a 2029 opening, according to Sports Business Journal, which visited the northeast Ohio site as work continues on one of the largest construction jobs in the state. Instead of building up, the Browns are building down: most of the seating bowl will sit below the surrounding grade, a design driven by the airport next door.
The scale of the excavation alone tells the story. Reporting on the early site work by UReport Stories put the dig at roughly 80 to 90 feet deep, with nearly 2 million cubic yards of dirt to be moved, and about 70 percent of the stadium’s seating below ground level. Independence Excavating is performing the excavation and site work, UReport Stories reported, with Michel’s Foundations handling deep foundation work…