CLEVELAND, Ohio -- FirstEnergy will be paying the Browns an average of about $6 million a year for at least 17 years for the right to have its name on Cleveland Browns Stadium.

That's the word from an NFL source who was not authorized to talk on the record and would not discuss the structure of the agreement.

The amount puts the deal on par with the 20-year, $122 million agreement the Indianapolis Colts signed with Lucas Oil Products in 2008. Some other notable deals: the Baltimore Ravens have a five-year, $75 million deal at M&T Bank Stadium; and the Pittsburgh Steelers have a 20-year, $57 million deal at Heinz Field.

The Akron-based utility had no comment on the terms of the deal, which was unveiled with great fanfare Tuesday after months of negotiations.

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said during the event that FirstEnergy asked that fees and other details not be disclosed.

FirstEnergy's last report to investors in November showed profits were down 20 percent compared to the year before, partly because of declining demand and competition from companies with cheap gas-fired power plants.

Of all its divisions, the only bright spot was the free-wheeling and unregulated FirstEnergy Solutions, which sells power all over Ohio as well as in other states.

FirstEnergy is a $16 billion a year company and the $6 million annual expense comes under the cost of doing business -- in other words marketing, which is becoming more important as power companies compete.

These costs cannot come be passed onto FirstEnergy's customers through rate increases. Still, both regulators and consumer advocates will be watching.

"I have not heard that the utility will seek to charge electricity customers for the cost of the stadium naming rights," said Ohio Consumers' Counsel Bruce Weston. "But it's not an expense that electricity customers, even if they are football fans, should have to pay."

Todd Snitchler, chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio said he doesn't expect FirstEnergy to try to pass on the cost.

"That is all shareholder money," he said. "We don't have any control over how they spend those dollars."

Former Ohio Consumers' Counsel Bill Spratley, now head of Green Energy Ohio, said he hopes FirstEnergy and the Browns will next consider "greening" the stadium.

"The Cleveland Indians have been real league leaders," he said of the Tribe's decision to put a solar array and a wind turbine at Progressive Field.

"I see this partnership as an opportunity for FirstEnergy to be associated with green energy. A solar array would look very nice down there. It's time for them to play ball," said Spratley.

Henry Henderson, director of the Midwest Program for the Natural Resources Defense Council echoed that thought.

"They can learn a thing or two from Progressive Field, which has gotten national kudos as one of the greenest sports facilities in the country, thanks in part to their wind turbine and solar arrays."

-- With Tom Reed