Some local restaurants were preparing for big losses once the Browns move

CLEVELAND – Imagine that.

It's 11 a.m. Sunday, the Cleveland Browns are playing at home, and you and your friends are heading to the Flats to tailgate.

Then you all decide to hit the bars and restaurants like Anejo before kickoff at 1 p.m., where you'll meet other Browns fans at Brian Gresham's who are excited for the big game.

But now Gresham said he fears all the fun he's used to on Sundays will change once the Browns travel to Brook Park.

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb announced the team's departure Thursday afternoon.

Browns leave downtown Cleveland for Brook Park

RELATED: Browns leave downtown Cleveland for Brook Park

What is even more devastating is that it will be a great loss for Anejo.

“As business owners, we've done very well with tailgating down here and the eight games we got were very good for us. We love the Browns, and I don't think it's as bad as the first time they moved to Baltimore, but it's a punch in the gut,” said Gresham, who owns the Anejo restaurant.

Other business owners like Laurie Torres of Mallorca on West 9th Street said she gets a lot of foot traffic before and after games, so this move will also impact her business.

“It's very disappointing. It’s really very disappointing,” Torres said. “This is just another signal from the team we’ve supported for 30 years that they don’t support the downtown area either.”

Joe Savarise, president and CEO of the Ohio Hotel and Lodging Association, said hotels in the city are also concerned about the larger impact on downtown businesses like Mallorca and Anejo.

But at this point, he said hotels in the city would still generate business.

“You can’t replicate the hotel infrastructure we have in downtown Cleveland in a place like Brook Park, not now. And it will be many decades before some of the amenities we have in hotels in the city can even be replicated,” Savarise said.

“We will suffer. We're going to have problems. But we will survive,” Gresham said.