A smaller US airline aiming to compete with the Big Four (or is it Five?) announced today that it will add a flight to take Cleveland Browns fans to the NFL Draft.
And Allegiant Air, which flies from the Akron-Canton Airport, is hoping to give Northeast Ohio sports fans a football future to look forward to.
The airline announced Tuesday that it would fly a single flight from Northeast Ohio to eastern Wisconsin for this year’s NFL Draft.
Great news! Of course, greater news would be the Browns not sitting in dead last place in the AFC North (or heck, Cincinnati not sitting in the #3 spot). But let’s bank small victories where we can, shall we?
Last month, we bemoaned Big Airline having reduced service to Ohio airports, including Cleveland, and giving Ohio cities a raw deal relative to, say, Pittsburgh. Maybe Allegiant’s experiment for the NFL Draft will be a success and they’ll move in where the Big Four (or is it Five?) have failed.
The economic case for doing just that is arguably increasing. Yesterday, real estate platform Zillow released its list of America’s hottest housing markets, and would you believe that all of Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati ranked in the top fifteen nationwide– even ahead of Miami, which has been a very sought-after destination ever since COVID kicked off.
| 2025 Hottest Markets Rank | Metropolitan Area | Change in Rank from 2024 | Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) 2024 | ZHVI Year over Year Growth, 2024 | 2025 Home Value Growth Forecast | Jobs per New Home Permitted | Change in Inventory Versus 2018–2019 Averages |
| 1 | Buffalo, NY | 0 | $260,537 | 5.7 % | 2.8 % | 2.0 | -46.1 % |
| 2 | Indianapolis, IN | 2 | $275,639 | 3.6 % | 3.4 % | 0.5 | -16.1 % |
| 3 | Providence, RI | 2 | $484,019 | 6.7 % | 3.7 % | 1.3 | -62 % |
| 4 | Hartford, CT | 15 | $363,298 | 6.5 % | 4.2 % | 1.1 | -68.6 % |
| 5 | Philadelphia, PA | 6 | $362,744 | 4.6 % | 2.6 % | 1.5 | -46 % |
| 6 | St. Louis, MO | 9 | $250,141 | 4.2 % | 1.9 % | 1.3 | -43.8 % |
| 7 | Charlotte, NC | 0 | $377,450 | 1.6 % | 3.2 % | -0.5 | 17.5 % |
| 8 | Kansas City, MO | 10 | $299,118 | 3.8 % | 2.7 % | 0.2 | -36 % |
| 9 | Richmond, VA | 11 | $368,957 | 4.1 % | 2.9 % | -0.1 | -43.3 % |
| 10 | Salt Lake City, UT | 18 | $543,324 | 2.8 % | 2.3 % | 0.5 | -4.8 % |
| 11 | Cincinnati, OH | -9 | $281,887 | 4.6 % | 2.9 % | -0.2 | -32.8 % |
| 12 | Columbus, OH | -9 | $310,746 | 3.8 % | 3.1 % | -0.8 | -20.5 % |
| 13 | Virginia Beach, VA | 23 | $349,186 | 4.6 % | 2.5 % | 1.2 | -42.6 % |
| 14 | Cleveland, OH | -6 | $228,140 | 6.4 % | 2.8 % | 0.6 | -52.6 % |
| 15 | Miami, FL | 10 | $486,056 | 1.0 % | 3.5 % | 1.0 | -4.4 % |
Will Bernie Moreno be the next senator to jump on board with Josh Hawley and Elizabeth Warren’s Airport Gate Competition Act? That might make it easier for Allegiant to offer even more flights out of Cleveland going forward, maybe to serve newcomers to the city and not just Brown fans wanting to travel to Wisconsin for the Draft.
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