CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Mayor Justin Bibb said there never was a legal path to keep the Browns on the lakefront, even if Cleveland had eventually won its lawsuits. State lawmakers had stacked the deck against the city, so he “fought like hell” to get $100 million out of Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam instead.

That was the sentiment the mayor continued to echo as he faced a frustrated Cleveland City Council, who peppered Bibb and his cabinet with questions for more than three hours Monday about a settlement that cleared the way for the Browns to move to a $2.4 billion stadium in Brook Park, surrounded by a $1 billion mixed-use development.

“It was not in the cards for us,” Bibb said. “The cards were stacked against us. And now we have to deal with the reality that we currently live in.”

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