The City of Cleveland has filed a case against the Cleveland Browns ownership after proposed departure from Huntington Bank Field.

Cleveland’s fight to keep the Browns from moving from their downtown home into a proposed dome in the suburbs has taken yet another legal turn.

The Browns shall not pass. The city of Cleveland filed a lawsuit Tuesday to try to prevent the NFL team’s move from their Lake Erie-front Huntington Bank Stadium to what would be a dome facility in suburban Brook Park — 15 miles south of the city in the same county, according to ESPN.

Cleveland officials on Tuesday sued the Cleveland Browns over the team's plans to move the downtown stadium to Brook Park.

The city of Cleveland on Jan. 14 filed a lawsuit in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court aimed at preventing the Browns from leaving downtown to play in a proposed domed stadium in Brook Park

In his filing, Yost pushed back on the Browns' claims of the Modell Law being 'vague and unclear,' and asserted any other issues must be resolved at the state level.

Cleveland has sued the Browns, alleging the team violated the Modell Law by planning to relocate to Brook Park without fulfilling legal obligations. The city claims the Browns are bypassing required negotiations and attempts to sell to local buyers,

The lawsuit comes just a few months after the Browns filed their own complaint challenging the constitutionality of the state law in federal court

In their statement on Thursday, they made it clear that “Watson’s recovery time and return-to-play status is uncertain, and he will likely miss significant time during the 2025 season.”

Mark Oprea is a staff writer at Scene. For the past seven years, he's covered Cleveland as a freelance journalist, and has contributed to TIME, NPR, the Pacific Standard and the Cleveland Magazine. He's the winner of two Press Club awards.

The city has filed a state law suit against the Browns, invoking the Modell Law. The state law puts up obstacles for teams wishing to leave taxpayer-funded facilities.