As I write this, I'm standing on what could be the 50-yard line at a new Cleveland Browns Stadium.

You can almost hear it, can't you?

Of course, right now this is just a giant empty track of land in Brook Park, but the Haslam Sports Group just reportedly agreed to buy 176 acres here, and it's a pretty safe bet they're plan isn't to convert it into a big paintball course (although that would kind of rule, frankly).

No, this means that — like a young married Cleveland couple who just had their first kid — the Browns are considering moving to the suburbs.

Nothing is for certain, of course, but the math isn't difficult. Browns Stadium, as it currently exists, is not great — it's old, it's cold, and it needs a major upgrade or a total rebuild.

The stadium lease expires in 2028, so something's going to happen soon. All that's being negotiated now is precisely what will happen, where it will happen, and how much what happens is going to cost everybody, which is of particular interest to taxpayers.

Some think this land purchase is a surefire sign that Browns ownership plans to move the stadium out of downtown. Some believe it to be a strategic gambit by the Haslams, intended to spur city and county officials into action on an issue that they've been slow to address.

The Browns have been playing downtown since 1946, so if the team does move and the Brook Park Browns become a reality, that would obviously take some getting used to.

But this is the way the league seems to be going, as 12 of the 32 NFL teams already play their home games in suburban municipalities.

I've been to a few, and they're not my personal cup of tea. Suburban stadiums feel sterile and disconnected from the personality of the city. They look less like an integral part of a vibrant town and more like those eerie Amazon distribution stations that seem to pop up overnight.

But I'm also not so rigid that I couldn't suffer through having to watch my football team play in another building 10 minutes away from where I normally do, and without enduring 60-knot Canadian ice winds attacking me from the lake.

The good news for the Haslams is that, either way, they win.

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