Cleveland city council approves Guardians lease at ballpark

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland City Council voted to approve a lease agreement that will keep the Guardians at Progressive Field through 2036. The team will also be able to begin planning renovations to the downtown ballpark, which will be upgraded as part of a $435 million project funded in a partnership between the Major League Baseball franchise, the city, Cuyahoga County and the state of Ohio. Those renovations won’t begin until after the 2022 season at the earliest. The team, which recently changed its name from the Indians to Guardians, had argued the ballpark, which opened as Jacobs Field in 1994, was in need of major repairs.