Art Modell

Arthur Modell
Born	Arthur B. Modell (1925-06-23) June 23, 1925 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)	NFL franchise owner, Cleveland Browns (1961-1995) Baltimore Ravens (1996-2004) businessman advertising agent public relations

Arthur B. Modell (born June 23, 1925, Brooklyn, New York) is an American businessman, entrepreneur and former National Football League team owner. He owned the Cleveland Browns franchise from 1961–1995 and the Baltimore Ravens franchise from 1996–2004. Modell is the grandson of the late Morris Modell who founded the northeast sporting goods store chain Modell's in 1889. He is also the son of late Modell's executive Henry Modell.[1]

As Cleveland Browns owner (1961-1995)

During the 1940s and 1950s, Modell worked in the advertising, public relations businesses and television production in New York City. He purchased the Cleveland Browns in 1961 for $4 million, investing only $250,000 of his own money (he borrowed $2.7 million and found partners for the rest).

Coach Paul Brown's firing (1963)

Unlike the Browns' previous owners, Modell immediately took an active role in the management of the team, and fired legendary coach Paul Brown on January 9, 1963. He did so because Brown ignored his suggestions and overshadowed Modell. Paul Brown had won 7 league championships prior to Modell's acquisition of the team. After firing Brown, Modell quickly named Brown's assistant, Blanton Collier, as the new coach on January 16, 1963.

Browns win NFL Championship Game (1964)

After three non-playoff seasons, The 1964 Browns' team would finish 10-3-1 and appear in the 1964 NFL Championship Game against a heavily favored Don Shula coached Baltimore Colts team with NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas as its' signal caller. The Browns whitewashed the Colts 27-0 in Cleveland Municipal Stadium. This particular Browns team consisted of many players initially drafted and acquired by Brown. However, some players, Jim Brown among them, said that the team wouldn't have won had Paul Brown still been the coach. During the next 30 years in Cleveland, not a single Modell team won the league title, although they would go on to appear in a total of 7 NFL/AFC championship title games during the period. Prior to Modell's arrival, the Browns had dominated the NFL and AAFC, winning 7 championships in 17 years.

Modell's team promotions

Using his background in advertising to market the team, Modell showed a flair for promotions, with one popular innovation coming in 1962 by scheduling pro football preseason doubleheaders at Cleveland Stadium. In addition, Modell became active in NFL leadership, serving as NFL President and using his television connections to help negotiate the league's increasingly lucrative television contracts. Modell also was willing to provide his team as an opponent for both the first prime time Thanksgiving game in 1966 and the opening Monday Night Football broadcast in 1970.

Community involvement in Cleveland area

Modell took an active role in Cleveland community life and was a leading fundraiser for charities and various Republican Party candidates. He married TV soap opera star Patricia Breslin in 1969, having previously been a well-known bachelor and man about town. For many years he was able to disarm newspaper and TV reporters with his quick wit. For example, with regard to the NFL's innovative policy of sharing all network television revenue on an equal basis per team, so that the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants each got an equal slice of the revenue, he joked, "We're 26 Republicans who vote Socialist!"

Player contract battles

However, that ingratiating manner did not always translate into smooth relationships with his employees. In 1967, five African American members of the Browns involved in a contract dispute refused to report to training camp. Modell eventually traded or released four of the players, with only standout running back Leroy Kelly staying. Kelly would go on to "play out his option" but the restrictive nature of free agency in the NFL at the time severely limited his options.

Subsequent contract battles with defensive end Jack Gregory in 1971 and second-round draft pick Tom Skladany in 1977 only served to damage Modell's image among Cleveland fans. Feeling that the constant sellouts the team had enjoyed should be used to bolster the team, fan animosity manifested itself with anti-Modell stadium banners that were quickly removed by Cleveland Stadium management.

As Municipal Stadium landlord (1973-1995)

Modell as head of Stadium Corp. (1973)

Modell took control of Cleveland Municipal Stadium in 1973, which had been owned by the City of Cleveland but had become too expensive for the city to operate or maintain. He worked out a deal with the city whereby his newly formed entity, dubbed Stadium Corp., would rent the stadium from the City for $1 per year, assume all operating and repair costs and would sublease the stadium to its two primary tenants, the Browns and the Cleveland Indians, Cleveland's franchise in the American League of Major League Baseball.

Cleveland Indians baseball

As head of Stadium Corp., Modell was the landlord of the Indians organization. This was a sound business decision even though the Indians played poorly and drew small crowds throughout much of the 1970s and 1980s. The Browns were paying rent to themselves and Modell, by constructing loges in the ballpark, generated significant cash flow from the loge rentals not shared with the Indians. Modell later alleged that the loge rentals were unprofitable because he had financed their construction at the prevailing high interest rates, though he failed to explain why the rental income that was earned was not used to offset the debt.

Indians grow dissatisfied with Modell

The Indians organization became dissatisfied with Modell's Stadium Corp. as its landlord. Modell did not share the loge revenues earned from baseball games with the Indians. Also, rock concerts damaged the stadium playing field during baseball season, and Modell refused to improve the clubhouse. The Indians attributed to this their inability to attract high-quality free-agent players. Eventually the Indians persuaded City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County voters to fund a new ballpark (which became known as Jacobs Field), by imposition of new taxes.

Modell's dissatisfaction with Jacobs' Field

In turn, Modell was dissatisfied with the Indians' new ballpark because Stadium Corp.'s suite rental revenue decreased once Jacobs Field opened. Many suite customers switched their business from Cleveland Stadium's older suites to Jacobs Field's newer suites, due to the Indians' newfound success and popularity in the mid 1990s and because Modell's Stadium Corp. refused to decrease the annual rent for the suites even though the events for which the suites could be used decreased substantially (81 home games) with the loss of the Indians as a tenant.

Other tenants

Modell's Stadium Corporation, in conjunction with Belkin Productions, also promoted well-attended rock concerts at the stadium, including The World Series of Rock. In 1977, Cleveland Stadium hosted more than 83,000 patrons for the only Pink Floyd concert between New York City and Chicago. These concerts drew large crowds that unfortunately damaged the baseball playing field.

Gries Sports Enterprises lawsuit

In 1979, Stadium Corp. and Modell were implicated in a lawsuit brought by Browns minority shareholder Robert Gries of Gries Sports Enterprises, who successfully alleged that Stadium Corp. manipulated the Browns' accounting records to help Stadium Corp. and Modell absorb a loss on real property that had been purchased in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville as a potential site for a new stadium. The lawsuit, Gries Sports Enterprises v. Cleveland Browns Football Co., 26 Ohio St. 3d 15 (1986), was a leading Ohio case concerning a corporate officer's fiduciary duty toward shareholders.

Gateway Sports project clash

Modell declined to become a tenant in Cleveland's new Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex, instead asking for improvements to Municipal Stadium. Because Modell's Stadium Corp. still controlled Municipal Stadium, it may have made more business sense for Modell to try to keep the Indians at Municipal, particularly as the baseball team began to show signs of improvement both on the playing field and at the box office. (The Indians went on to play in the World Series in 1995 and 1997, and sold out 455 straight games at Jacobs Field from 1995 until 2001.) The City of Cleveland agreed to make the improvements to Municipal Stadium which were to be funded through an extension of the sin tax, which was used to provide funding for the Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex.

Modell relocates to Baltimore (1996)

While the City of Cleveland, Ohio agreed to improve Municipal Stadium, Modell issued a public moratorium on discussions relating to the stadium issue or the future of his franchise. It was during this time that Modell entered into secret discussions with the State of Maryland to move the franchise to Baltimore for the 1996 season. The announcement of the move occurred several days before the public referendum on the extension of the sin tax that would fund the improvements on Municipal Stadium as Modell had originally requested. Some say that the timing of the announcement was to cause the referendum to go down in defeat and thus allow Modell to make the case that he was not receiving the public support he needed to remain viable in Cleveland. The referendum was passed by a wide margin. He was assisted in the move by Alfred Lerner, who would go on to become the new owner of the reactivated Cleveland Browns franchise in 1998. Modell's move returned the NFL to Baltimore for the first time since the Colts left for Indianapolis after the 1983 season.

Hostile fan reaction to move

The reaction in Cleveland was, not surprisingly, very hostile. Modell had promised numerous times never to move the team. The Brooklyn native mentioned numerous times how saddened and betrayed he and other Brooklynites had felt when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1957, he had publicly criticized the Baltimore Colts move to Indianapolis and he had testified in favor of the NFL in court cases where the league unsuccessfully tried to stop Al Davis from moving the Oakland Raiders from Oakland to Los Angeles.

The City of Cleveland vs. Cleveland Browns

The City of Cleveland sued Modell, the Browns, Stadium Corp, the Maryland Stadium Authority and the authority's director, John A. Moag Jr., in City of Cleveland v. Cleveland Browns, et al., Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Case No. CV-95-297833, for breaching the Browns' lease, which required the team to play its home games at Cleveland Stadium for several years beyond 1995. Surprisingly for Modell, many Baltimore fans sympathized with Clevelanders' outrage. Baltimore was still smarting from Colts owner Robert Irsay's behavior in the run-up to the Colts' move a decade earlier, culminating in the team being literally sneaked out of town in the middle of the night in late March 1984. Many people in Baltimore felt Irsay had stolen Baltimore's football history as well. They felt that Modell would be doing the same thing to Cleveland if he went with his initial plan to call his team the "Baltimore Browns."

Browns franchise deactivated, to resume in '99

Eventually the NFL and the parties worked out a deal. The Browns' franchise would be deactivated for three years. Modell had to leave behind the Browns' name, colors and heritage (including team records) for a replacement franchise, in the form of either a new team or a relocated franchise. This is in direct contradiction of statements made by Modell since the move to Baltimore that implied he gave up the name, colors and history of the Browns as a sign of goodwill towards the fans of Cleveland. In return, Modell was allowed to take the franchise rights, players and organization to Baltimore as the new expansion Ravens. Cleveland received a loan from the NFL to help with the cost of a new stadium. The Browns returned to the NFL in 1999 with Lerner, a friend of Modell as well as a minority owner of Modell's original franchise and MBNA CEO and owner, assuming ownership, after Lerner outbid other interested parties for the right to buy the reactivated Browns' franchise.

The Browns' record under Modell

During Modell's 35 seasons as team owner the Browns qualified for the postseason 17 times, winning 11 division titles and the NFL championship in 1964. The team's overall regular season record during Modell's tenure was 252-233-10, (winning percentage .507), and its post-season record was 7 wins against 14 losses (winning percentage .333).

Impact of move

The move fueled a proliferation of 12 new stadiums throughout the NFL. Using the NFL-City of Cleveland agreement's promise to supply a team to Cleveland by 1999, several NFL franchises used the threat of relocation to coerce their respective cities to build new stadiums with public funds. Such franchises include the Broncos, Patriots, Eagles, Seahawks, Buccaneers, Bengals, Steelers, Lions, Cardinals, and Colts. The NFL's deal with Cleveland would set a legal precedent with other sports teams, as well.

The Minnesota Twins signed a deal with Hennepin County, Minnesota for Target Field in 2006, where they agreed to a provision that was later codified into law which allows the state of Minnesota the right of first refusal to buy the team if it is ever sold, and requires that the name, colors, World Series trophies and history of the team remain in Minnesota if the Twins are ever moved out of state, a deal similar to what Modell agreed to with the city of Cleveland during the move.

In December 2005, the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer moved to Houston, Texas to become the Houston Dynamo. At the time, it was announced by the league that while players and staff would move with the team, the team name, colors, logo, and records (including two championship trophies) would stay in San Jose for when a new expansion team arrives.[3] In 2008, the Earthquakes returned under the ownership of Lew Wolff.

When the Seattle SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 2008, the owners agreed to leave the 'SuperSonics' name, logo, and colors in Seattle for a possible future NBA franchise; however the items would remain the property of the Oklahoma City team along with other "assets" including championship banners and trophies.[4] The team was subsequently renamed the Oklahoma City Thunder. Both the Thunder and any future Seattle NBA team will also "share" the SuperSonics' history.

Many sportswriters and commentators in and outside of Cleveland reviled him, saying the honorable course would have been to sell the team to local interests. It is widely believed that the acrimony from the move has kept Modell out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (he was an also-ran in the 2006 voting). After all, the original Browns were considered one of the NFL's flagship franchises, as well as an institution by many Northern Ohioans. To this day, he is considered to be persona non-grata in Cleveland by many in the local media and business circles, and probably because of the local-wide acrimonious sentiment towards him, has not returned to the city since 1996. For example, when Browns kicking legend Lou "The Toe" Groza, died in 2000, Modell didn't feel safe attending the funeral, so he did not appear.

Browns' final game at Municipal Stadium (1995)

When the final game was played in Cleveland Municipal Stadium in 1995, there were more people outside it protesting the move and the comments spoken by Modell about it than inside enjoying their last Browns game. The protesters were acknowledged by the NBC announcing crew. Former NFL head coach Mike Ditka said, "...these are the best fans in the NFL. I said that when I came here with my Bears. They (the Cleveland sports fans) don't deserve this. If Modell had any sort of sense of dignity he would have sold the team."

1990's

By the 1990s, Modell was disturbed at what he saw as the financial distress of the Browns and the Stadium Corp., as recounted in detail in the book Fumble: The Browns, Modell, & the Move by Michael G. Poplar with James A. Toman (ISBN 0-936760-11-7) which was written by a Modell associate and longtime Browns employee. Less charitable portraits of Modell are contained in the books Glory for Sale: Inside the Browns' Move to Baltimore & the New NFL by Jon Morgan (ISBN 0-9631246-5-X) and Pay Dirt: the Business of Professional Team Sports by James Quirk and Rodney D. Fort (ISBN 0-691-01574-0).

As Principal owner of Baltimore Ravens (1996-2004)

Former Colts players, fans rally around team

Many Baltimore fans, including several prominent old-time Colts players who live in the area, considered the Ravens to be the successors of the Baltimore Colts.

Head coaching changes

Upon the teams move in 1996, Modell would select former NFL head coach and offensive guru Ted Marchibroda as its new head coach. Marchibroda, who also had been the head of the Colts when they were in Baltimore during the late 1970s, also had coached them the previous three seasons in Indianapolis and they were fresh off of an appearance in a memorable 1995 AFC Championship loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

However, the new Ravens would still struggle to be competitive and suffer in mediocrity for the first 2 seasons in Baltimore, missing the playoffs each year; in 1998, they would hire former NFL assistant coach Brian Billick as the head coach, replacing Marchibroda. Like Marchibroda, Billick, an Ohio native, had been considered one of the brightest offensive minds among the league's offensive coaches, and also had been considered by Modell as a possible Browns head coaching candidate after he fired the late Bud Carson after the 1991 season.

Super Bowl XXXV

In 2000, the Ravens, under the coaching of Billick, qualified for the postseason for the first time, winning the AFC Wild-Card position with a 12–4 record, Tennessee won their division that year. Led by a stingy defense anchored by team captain and NFL All-Pro middle linebacker Ray Lewis, and quarterbacked by Pro-Bowler Trent Dilfer, they would go on to defeat the NFC Champion New York Giants in the Super Bowl, 34–7. Shortly after the Super Bowl XXXV victory, Modell handed the reins of the day-to-day operations of the team over to his son, David. The Ravens would once again qualify for the postseason, a Wild-Card berth in 2003. The Ravens' regular season record during Modell's tenure as team owner stands at 72–63.

Community involvement in Baltimore area

Modell and his wife, former television actress Patricia Breslin, have donated millions of dollars to a variety of charities, most notably, the SEED School, a boarding school being developed in Baltimore for disadvantaged youth, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Kennedy Krieger Institute, St. Vincent’s Center, a home for abused children, and the House Of Ruth, a domestic violence center. Modell received the Generous Heart Award from the Dr. Ben Carson Scholarship Foundation, given annually for excellence in the community.

Ravens sold to minority owner Bisciotti

Despite a no-cost stadium lease, all revenues from parking, concessions, and TV, as well as a reported $25M Maryland subsity, Modell's ownership of the Ravens resulted in continual financial hardships, and the NFL stepped in and directed Modell to sell his franchise. In 2003, Modell sold the Ravens to minority owner, Maryland businessman Steve Bisciotti. Under the deal, Modell retained a small interest (approximately 1% share) upon the teams' sale as a legal maneuver to avoid a claim by the Andrews trust, which was controlled by family of a former business adviser who sought to collect an estimated $30 million finder's fee upon Modell's sale of the team. The Andrews trust essentially claimed that under a 1963 agreement Modell owed a finder's fee for his original purchase of the team which was to be paid when Modell sold his entire interest. In July 2005 Modell prevailed in court and defeated the Andrews trust's claim. At the time of sale the franchise's worth was estimated at approximately $600 million US dollars.

Soon after Modell moved the franchise to Baltimore in 1996 he had sold a small minority interest to Bisciotti. After owning the NFL franchise for 44 seasons, Modell sold controlling interest of the team to Bisciotti, citing ill health. However, Bisciotti had the option to buy the team fully in right (approximately 99%) until March 2004, this upon becoming a minority owner (about 45%) outright in 1999. Bisciotti exercised his purchase option in January 2004. Modell currently retains his 1% share and has an office at the Ravens' headquarters in Owings Mills, Maryland as a team consultant.[2]

Modell in popular culture

The hostile fan reaction to Modell's planned move of the original Browns' franchise to Baltimore has been lampooned and chroniclized in many media circles, particularly in print and television. On the cover of the December 4, 1995 issue of Sports Illustrated titled "Battle for the Browns", there is a cartoon of Modell punching a Browns fan, adorned with a Browns Helmet/dog and dogbone mask in the stomach. He was portrayed in the 2008 movie The Express, which was about Syracuse running back and Browns draftee Ernie Davis.

Personal

When Modell and his wife Patricia married in 1969 it was the second marriage for both; Breslin had brought two sons, John and David, Jr., from her first marriage to actor David Orrick McDearmon (1914-1979), of Bewitched TV Show fame. Modell adopted both John and David. David would later work for the Browns/Ravens' franchise, eventually become team president and CEO before the team's sale in 2004. Modell, who had been considered one of northeastern Ohio's most eligible bachelors as well as a man about town before marrying Patricia, had three children from his first marriage. As of 2009, Modell and his wife live happily together in Cockeysville, Maryland. They also have residences in nearby Owings Mills, Maryland, where son David lives with his family, and Vero Beach, Florida. They have a total of six grandchildren.

References

• Baltimore Business Journal article following Ravens' sale by Modell, 11-10-2003
• Art Modell bio sketch at Baltimore Ravens official website
• Ravens' owner Modell suffers mild heart attack, Baltimore Sun, 4-16-2002.

External links

• Modell Death Watch site:parody of fans of former Browns' and Ravens' owner Art Modell
• When Modell took one for the league, ESPN article, 5-11-2001.
• Art Modell at IMDb