Browns owners tout team's stability, success while considering stadium renovation, possible new dome

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) — Owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam spent more than a decade in a futile, frustrating search for stability and success for the frequently bumbling Cleveland Browns.

And although their franchise is now thriving, they know it can all be fleeting.

“This is the NFL,” Jimmy Haslam said Saturday with a grin. “And if anybody understands how hard it is to win, it’s us.”

But these are heady times for both the Browns and the Haslams, who discussed the current state of the franchise during their annual media availability at the start of training camp.

With low clouds caressing the surrounding Appalachian Mountains, Cleveland's first football family discussed a wide range of topics — including a sticky stadium situation — after the Browns' third practice at The Greenbrier Resort, where they began a 2023 season that ended with a rare playoff appearance.

The Browns somehow survived a rash of major injuries and went 11-7 despite losing star running back Nick Chubb in Week 2, q uarterback Deshaun Watson for the stretch run and starting four other QBs.

It was only the second winning season since the Haslams bought the Browns in 2012 from Randy Lerner and last month they rewarded coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry with contract extensions, a major development for a team known for nearly constant upheaval.

Stefanski was voted AP Coach of the Year for the second time in four years, while the 37-year-old Berry made some astute moves, including signing free agent quarterback Joe Flacco, who came out of semi-retirement and led the Browns to the postseason.

"I guess we’d say it’s a relief that they performed well,” Jimmy Haslam said. “Dee said it well. Not only a good GM and a good coach, but they’re really good people. They’re very young. Often times we forget how young they are. Potentially a very high ceiling for both of them.”

The Haslams are working on an extension for chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, who has been with the club since 2016.

As for Watson, he's entering a critical, make-or-break third season with the club and the Haslams are hoping its a complete one after he played in just 12 games in his first two years because of an NFL suspension and shoulder fracture.

“Deshaun works really hard,” Dee Haslam said. “He’s well prepared. He worked really hard in the offseason. We obviously have really high expectations. He has really high expectations of himself.”

On Friday, Watson, who has thrown passes all three days of camp, said he's focused on blocking out external noise and implied he has been unfairly judged. Watson was signed by the Browns amid sexual allegations brought against him by more than two dozen massage therapists in Texas.

Jimmy Haslam was asked if he was bothered by Watson's tone or assertions.

“Look, Deshaun is trying really hard,” Jimmy Haslam said. “You’d think blocking out the noise is something really important to him. He was probably emotional when he said that. I mean, that’s something that I can see in the current situation saying that, but I think Deshaun is really focused this year and I think he’s much more comfortable and confident.”

Like several other franchises, the Browns are dealing with a multi-layered stadium issue. The team is considering leaving its downtown home since 1946 and building a dome in Brook Park, Ohio, a suburb 13 miles south of Cleveland.

The other option is a $1 billion renovation to their current stadium, which opened in 1999.

The team's lease on the lakefront property owned by the city expires after the 2028 season, so time is a factor.

“I can assure you the intensity on all sides of coming up with a solution is extremely high,” Jimmy Haslam said.

The dome is expected to cost $2.4 billion and the Browns are hoping to fund it with state and county tax money.

“This is a big project," Jimmy Haslam said. "No matter which direction we go, it’s complicated. Any time you have a public-private partnership, it’s not easy. We’re continuing to work through the process.

“We hope sooner rather than later we’ll have a solution. But I can assure you, we were on the phone for an hour this morning talking about various things that have to be solved and one solution or the other. We’ll continue to do so until we get to what we think is the right answer. The right answer is what is best for our fans. These are long, long-term decisions.”

NOTES: TE David Njoku practiced for the first time and caught a TD from Watson during red-zone drills. ... C Brian Allen left practice with an apparent leg injury. He signed as a free agent in April after spending five seasons with the Rams.

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Cleveland Browns wide receiver Michael Woods II (81) catches a pass during an NFL football training camp practice Saturday, July 27, 2024, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns quarterbacks Jameis Winston, left, and Deshaun Watson, right, run during an NFL football training camp practice Saturday, July 27, 2024, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns tight end David Njoku catches a pass during an NFL football training camp practice Friday, July 26, 2024, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., Saturday, July 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) passes under pressure from linebacker Jordan Hicks (58) during an NFL football training camp practice Friday, July 26, 2024, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., Saturday, July 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr. waits for his turn to speak at a news conference during an NFL football training camp practice Saturday, July 27, 2024, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Jameis Winston (5) runs with the team during an NFL football training camp practice Saturday, July 27, 2024, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) and Ken Dorsey, right, offensive coordinator, watch during an NFL football training camp practice Saturday, July 27, 2024, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, right, talks with Catherine Raiche, left, assistant general manager and vice president of football operations, during an NFL football training camp practice Saturday, July 27, 2024, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns quarterbacks Deshaun Watson (4) and Jameis Winston (5) high-five during an NFL football training camp practice Saturday, July 27, 2024, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson (4) throws during an NFL football training camp practice, Saturday, July 27, 2024, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam laugh during a news conference at an NFL football training camp practice, Saturday, July 27, 2024, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

PARIS (AP) — Some Paralympians live with a disability all their lives. Carson Clough is not one of those people.

Clough played lacrosse for North Carolina and knew nothing about the Paralympics until he was involved in a 2019 boating accident that required a below-the-knee amputation of his right leg.

He’s one example of many among the 4,000-plus athletes at the Paris Paralympics who came to have a disability later in life or only learned of the Paralympics when they were adults. For them, para sport has offered a new direction and sense of purpose to their athletic careers.

In early 2022, with no previous knowledge of the sport, Clough was invited to apply to a talent ID camp hosted by USA Triathlon. It was there that he met his current coach, Mark Sortino, a long-time assistant coach for Team USA’s Paralympic Triathlon team.

When he began training, Clough admits, jumping into an entirely new sport was a difficult process, and one that he made a lot harder on himself by thinking he knew more than he did.

“It was: Think I know a lot about the sport, and do not as much listening,” Clough said. “My Coach, Mark Sortino, was obviously very experienced. He just kind of let me fall into my own trap and learn.”

Monique Matthews’ Paralympic career, meanwhile, began with a brochure.

Matthews had grown up a three-sport athlete, competing in softball, basketball, and track throughout high school. Her plans at the time revolved around whether she should head to college for softball, or join the military.

While working a summer job at Circuit City, her plans went out the window when a warehouse accident cost Matthews her left foot.

After the incident, Matthews took a two-year hiatus from sports, unsure where her life would go from there. That was until, by chance, she discovered a way that she might be able to compete again.

“After my amputation, I was looking for a new prosthetist, and I was up in Oklahoma City, and they actually had a brochure at Scott Sabolich for sitting volleyball,” said Matthews. “I emailed them and asked for a tryout, because I had never heard of the Paralympics before that.”

She not only made the team, she’s now got four Paralympic medals.

For Clough, after becoming more comfortable in the three aspects of triathlon, he quickly put his months of training to use.

In June 2022, he finished eighth at the World Triathlon Para Cup Besancon. This result set him up for a series of World Triathlon races which would eventually lead him to take first in the 2024 Americas Triathlon Para Championships in Miami in March, qualifying him for the Paralympics.

After this first intense run of competition, Clough centered his focus on putting in the work for Paris.

“For the past four months it’s just been actually listening to everything (Sortino) says, because he, as well as my manager and all the coaches, they know what they’re doing. I have no idea what I’m doing.”

The result? Clough ended up medaling in his first ever Paralympic race, taking silver in the PTS4 class for athletes with affected coordination on one side, or the absence of limbs.

As he enjoys this accomplishment, he’s already looking ahead to future competitions, including the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles.

“You know everybody says, ‘it never gets easier, you only get faster,’ but I’m gonna prove them wrong,” he said “I’m gonna make it easier.”

Like Clough, Matthews sees a message in their stories.

“A lot of times when you’re injured, you just think you’ve got to find a new path, you can’t do athletics anymore,” she said, “but then they see this and they’re like ‘Wow, I can continue to grow even better as an athlete.’”

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Anna Licastro is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.

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AP Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games

The United State's Carson Clough, far right, prepares to compete in the PTS4 Triathlon at the 2024 Paralympics, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024 in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Caleb Craig)

Carson Clough, of the United States, prepares for the cycling portion of the PTS4 Triathlon at the 2024 Paralympics, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024 in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Caleb Craig)