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Cleveland Browns relocation controversy

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Cleveland Municipal Stadium, where the Browns played until 1995.

The Cleveland Browns relocation controversy, sometimes referred to as "The Move",[1][2] was the decision by then-Browns owner Art Modell to move the National Football League (NFL) team from its longtime home of Cleveland, Ohio, to Baltimore, Maryland, for the 1996 NFL season.

Subsequent legal actions saw a unique compromise that would later set a precedent in American professional sports: Modell would be able to retain the Browns' existing player and staff contracts, but his team officially would be an entirely new franchise in Baltimore, later named the Baltimore Ravens. Meanwhile, the Browns' name, history, and archives would stay in Cleveland, and a new Browns team would begin play in 1999 after a nominal three-year period of "deactivation".

Early stages of the move

Art Modell

In 1973, then-Browns owner Art Modell signed a 25-year lease to operate Cleveland Stadium.[3] Modell's newly formed company, Stadium Corporation, assumed the expenses of operations from the city, freeing up tax dollars for other purposes.[4] Also, Modell would pay an annual rent of $150,000 for the first five years and $200,000 afterwards to the city. In exchange, Modell would receive all revenue generated by the stadium. Stadium Corp invested in improvements, including new electronic scoreboards and luxury suites.[3] Renting the suites and the scoreboard advertising generated substantial revenue for Stadium Corp and Modell.[citation needed]

However, Modell refused to share the suite revenue with the Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball team (which also played at Cleveland Stadium), even though much of the revenues were generated during baseball games as well as football games.[citation needed]

Financial problems eventually led to Modell moving the Browns. In 1994, the Indians prevailed upon the local governments and voters and convinced them to build them their own facility where they controlled the suite revenue.[3][4] Modell, mistakenly believing that his revenues were not endangered, refused to participate in the Gateway Project that built Jacobs Field (now known as Progressive Field) for the Indians and Gund Arena (now known as Quicken Loans Arena) for the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers.[5] Modell's assumptions proved incorrect, and Stadium Corp's suite revenues declined sharply when the Indians moved from the stadium to Jacobs Field in 1994.[4] Soaring player costs and deficits also contributed to Modell's financial losses. Modell lost $21 million between 1993 and 1994.[6]

Announcing the move

After Modell realized how much revenue he lost from the Indians moving out of Cleveland Stadium, he requested an issue be placed on the ballot to provide $175 million in tax dollars to refurbish the outmoded and declining Cleveland Stadium.[7]

On the field, the Browns, coached by Bill Belichick, were coming off a playoff season in which the team finished 11–5 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs entering the 1995 season. Sports Illustrated even predicted the Browns would represent the AFC in Super Bowl XXX at the end of the season.[8] However, the team disappointed many fans by losing three straight games after starting the season 3–1.[9]

On November 6, 1995, with the team sitting at 4–5,[9] Modell announced in a press conference at Camden Yards that he had signed a deal to relocate the Browns to Baltimore, Maryland in 1996 – a move which would return the NFL to Baltimore for the first time since the Baltimore Colts relocated to Indianapolis, Indiana after the 1983 season.[4][10] The reason Modell chose to relocate to Baltimore was because he felt the city had the funding to build a first-class stadium.[11] The very next day, on November 7, Cleveland voters overwhelmingly approved the aforementioned tax issue to remodel Cleveland Stadium.[12]

Browns fans reacted with great anger to the news,[13] wearing hats and t-shirts that read "Muck Fodell".[14] Cleveland filed an injunction to keep the Browns in the city until at least 1998, while several other lawsuits were filed by fans and ticket holders.[12][13] Congress held hearings on the matter.[15][16] Actor/comedian Drew Carey returned to his hometown of Cleveland on November 26, 1995, to host "Fan Jam" in protest of the proposed move. A protest was held in Pittsburgh during the Browns' game there against the Pittsburgh Steelers but ABC, the network broadcasting the game (and also the home of Carey's new sitcom that had just premiered), declined to cover or mention the protest.[citation needed] It was one of the few instances that Steelers fans and Browns fans were supportive of each other, as fans in Pittsburgh felt that Modell was robbing their team of their long-standing rivalry with the Browns.[12][17]

Virtually all of the team's sponsors pulled their support,[12] leaving Cleveland Stadium devoid of advertising during the team's final weeks.

As far as the on-field product was concerned, the Browns stumbled to finish 5–11 after the announcement, ahead of only the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars, to whom they lost twice, in the AFC Central.[9] The final game the team played at Cleveland Municipal Stadium was a 26–10 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.[18]

Settlement

After extensive talks between the NFL, the Browns and officials of the two cities, Cleveland accepted a legal settlement that would keep the Browns' legacy in Cleveland. On February 9, 1996, the NFL announced that the Browns would be 'deactivated' for three years, and that a new stadium would be built for a new Browns team, as either an expansion team or a team moved from another city, that would begin play in 1999. Modell would in turn then be granted a new franchise (the 31st NFL franchise), for Baltimore, retaining the current contracts of players and personnel. There would be a reactivated team for Cleveland, where the Browns' name, colors, history, records, awards and archives would remain in Cleveland.[18] The only other current NFL team to suspend operations without merging with another was Cleveland's previous NFL team, the Rams, during the 1943 season at the height of World War II.[19]

An additional stipulation was that in any future realignment plan, the Browns would automatically be placed in a division with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals, because of longstanding rivalries with those two teams.[20] Upon their reactivation in 1999, the Browns were placed back in the AFC Central with the Steelers and Bengals, as well as the rechristened Ravens (née Browns), Titans and Jaguars. When the NFL realigned into divisions of four teams for the 2002 season, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Baltimore remained together, but in the newly created AFC North.

Aftermath

The return of the NFL to Baltimore effectively killed the professional football team already in Baltimore at the time, the Grey Cup champion Baltimore Stallions of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Although they had been a runaway hit both on and off the field, Stallions owner Jim Speros knew he could not compete with an NFL team and opted to move elsewhere. He eventually moved the team to Montreal as the third incarnation of the Montreal Alouettes, though the CFL considers the new Alouettes to share the history of the teams that previously called Montreal home while the Stallions history is considered separate. Speros only kept the team for one year before selling it to Bob Wetenhall in 1997.[21][22]

Focus groups, a telephone survey, and a fan contest were all held to help select a new name for Modell's relocated club. Starting with a list of over 100 possible names, the team's management reduced it to 17. From there, focus groups of a total of 200 Baltimore area residents reduced the list of names to six, and then a phone survey of 1000 people trimmed it down to three, Marauders, Americans, and Ravens. Finally, a fan contest drawing 33,288 voters picked "Ravens", a name that alludes to the famous poem, "The Raven", by Edgar Allan Poe, who spent the latter part of his life in Baltimore, and is also buried there.[23] The team also adopted purple and black as their team colors, a stark contrast of the brown and orange colors of the Browns. Ex-Baltimore Colts such as Art Donovan and Johnny Unitas disowned[24] the Colts after their move to Indianapolis and are claimed in the Ravens' history.[25] The former Colts Marching Band, which remained in Baltimore after the Colts moved, was subsequently renamed the Baltimore's Marching Ravens.[26] Along with the San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills, and Washington Redskins, the Ravens are one of only four NFL teams with an official marching band.

Modell's move to Baltimore came at the height of NFL teams relocating.[27][28] The move also fueled a proliferation of 12 new stadiums throughout the NFL. Several NFL franchises used the threat of relocation to coerce their respective cities to build new stadiums with public funds. Such franchises include the Seahawks, Buccaneers, Bengals, Lions, Cardinals, and Bears.[27][28] In the three-year period from 1995–1997, four NFL teams moved. In addition to Modell's move, Los Angeles lost both of its teams for the 1995 season as the Raiders moved back to Oakland and the Rams moved east to St. Louis. The fourth and final move saw the Houston Oilers leave Texas to move to Memphis in 1997 and become known as the Tennessee Oilers; the team would move again to Nashville in 1998 and would be renamed the Tennessee Titans in 1999.

After several NFL teams used Cleveland as a relocation threat to become the reactivated Browns (most notably the Tampa Bay Buccaneers[29]), the NFL decided in 1998 to make the reactivated Browns an expansion team, which while it temporarily gave the league an odd number of teams (causing at least one team to be off in each of the 17 weeks of the NFL season from 1999–2001), it also eliminated any possibility of an existing franchise giving up its own identity for the Browns and thus prevented more lawsuits. In a somewhat ironic twist, Al Lerner—who helped Modell move to Baltimore—was granted ownership of the reactivated Browns;[30] his son Randy took over ownership after Al's death in 2002 before selling the team to Pilot Flying J CEO Jimmy Haslam in 2012. The Houston Texans were created as the 32nd team to replace the Oilers in Houston, Texas for the 2002 NFL season to give the league once again an even number of teams.

The reactivated Browns have had only two winning seasons since returning to the NFL in 1999: a 9–7 finish in 2002 which also saw the team clinch a wild card spot in the playoffs, and a 10–6 finish in 2007 while barely missing the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Ravens have been more successful, reaching the playoffs eight times since 2000 and winning Super Bowl XXXV and Super Bowl XLVII, often to the dismay of Browns fans.[18][31] Longtime placekicker Matt Stover was the last remaining Raven that was with Modell's franchise during the move, having departed the team following the 2008 season when the team chose not to re-sign him.[32] General manager and former Browns tight end Ozzie Newsome (who was in a front-office role with Modell by the time of the move) remains with the Modell franchise.

Because of continual financial hardships, the NFL directed Modell to initiate the sale of his franchise. On March 27, 2000, NFL owners approved the sale of 49% of the Ravens to Steve Bisciotti.[33] In the deal, Bisciotti had an option to purchase the remaining 51% for $325 million in 2004 from Art Modell. On April 8, 2004, the NFL approved Steve Bisciotti's purchase of the majority stake in the club.[34] Although Modell later retired and had relinquished control of the Ravens, he is still hated in Cleveland, which had been angry at him long before the move when he fired legendary head coach Paul Brown in 1963. Some considered the Browns' relocation and subsequent lawsuits costing Modell a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which is located in Canton, Ohio, just 60 miles south of Cleveland and is both part of the Cleveland television market and part of the Browns' territorial rights.[35][36]

The move would also have an effect in Pittsburgh as well. Steelers owner Dan Rooney was one of two owners to oppose Modell's move to Baltimore because of a mutual respect for the team and the fans. Because of the move, the Browns–Steelers rivalry, arguably one of the most heated rivalries in the NFL, has somewhat cooled in Pittsburgh. The Steelers–Ravens rivalry is considered the spiritual successor by fans in Pittsburgh and is one of the most heated current rivalries in the NFL.[37] Although the rivalry is not as intense in Pittsburgh, Browns fans still consider it their top rivalry[citation needed] despite the Browns' recent struggles against the Steelers. Since returning to the NFL, the Browns and Steelers rivalry has been one-sided in favor of the Steelers, with the Browns losing twelve straight games to the Steelers from 2003 until 2009.

Effect on teams in other sports leagues

The NFL's deal with Cleveland set a legal precedent with other sports teams. The Minnesota Twins, when they signed their deal with Hennepin County, Minnesota for Target Field in 2006, agreed to a provision that was signed into law that 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 (MLS) 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.[38] In 2008, the Earthquakes returned under the ownership of Lew Wolff.

When the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Seattle SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 2008, it was agreed that the 'SuperSonics' name, logo, colors, and history would all be left in Seattle. This also includes banners and trophies, which would be displayed in a museum until a new franchise is brought to Seattle to be hung from the rafters of its arena.[39] The original Sonics, now the Oklahoma City Thunder, will continue to keep the Sonics tie-ins, including records, championships, and retired numbers, until a new NBA franchise is brought to Seattle. Both the Thunder and a potential Seattle franchise would "share" the SuperSonics history.

In the most recent professional sports franchise relocation scenario, a team retook the name of the city's previous team that bore that name (as the relocated Baltimore Stallions did when the Ravens forced their move to Montreal). The National Hockey League (NHL)'s Winnipeg Jets announced in 1996 that they would be leaving Manitoba for Phoenix, Arizona and become the Phoenix Coyotes. After the Coyotes went bankrupt in 2010, an ownership group called True North Sports & Entertainment tried to buy the team and return it to Canada, where it would have reassumed the Jets' name and history in Winnipeg. The group failed to do so, but when the Atlanta Thrashers came up for sale a year later, True North purchased them instead and moved them north for the 2011–12 NHL season. Since the NHL had taken control of the Coyotes after their bankruptcy, they had the right to decide if the new Winnipeg team could assume both the name and the history. The league elected to let True North use the name, but the new Jets were not able to use the old Jets' history as that would remain in Phoenix with the Coyotes.

See also

References

  1. ^ Dyer, Bob (2007). The Top 20 Moments in Cleveland Sports History: Tremendous Tales of Heroes and Heartbreaks. Gray & Company. pp. 277–291. ISBN 9781598510300. Retrieved June 28, 2012.
  2. ^ "LeBron James makes his pick: He's going to Miami". NBA.com. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. Associated Press. July 9, 2010. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
  3. ^ a b c Munson, Lester. A Busted Play. Sports Illustrated. 4 December 1995. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d Henkel 2005, p. 102
  5. ^ Naymik, Mark. Art Modell was offered a stadium for the Cleveland Browns and passed. Cleveland Plain Dealer. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  6. ^ McFadden, Robert D. (September 6, 2012). "Art Modell, Owner of Browns, Then Ravens, Dies at 87". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012.
  7. ^ Smith, Timothy (1995-11-04). "Baltimore Browns May Be a Done Deal". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  8. ^ "Playoff Predictions". Sports Illustrated. 1995-09-04. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
  9. ^ a b c "1995 Cleveland Browns". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  10. ^ Morgan, Jon. Unforgettable is what it's been. The Baltimore Sun. 6 November 1996. Retrieved 17 June 2011
  11. ^ Morgan, Jon. Inside the Browns Deal. The Baltimore Sun. 17 December 1995. Retrieved 17 June 2011
  12. ^ a b c d Sandomir, Richard (1995-11-12). "A City Fights To Save The Browns". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
  13. ^ a b Rushin, Steve. The Heart Of A City. Sports Illustrated. 4 December 1995. Retrieved 19 May 2011
  14. ^ "Muck Fodell". 1995-09-04. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
  15. ^ "Franchise Relocation Curb Sought on Hill". Washington Post. 1995-11-30. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
  16. ^ Cleveland Browns Move to Baltimore Debate. C-SPAN. 1 December 1995. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  17. ^ "A Rivalry Unravels". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 1995-11-14. Retrieved 2010-08-07. [dead link]
  18. ^ a b c Henkel 2005, p. 103
  19. ^ "The Cleveland Rams". Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
  20. ^ Stellino, Vito. NFL to try realign play. Baltimore Sun. 7 October 1999. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  21. ^ Klingaman, Mike. Once, the Stallions rode high. Baltimore Sun. 26 November 2000. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  22. ^ Montreal Alouettes – History. Montreal Alouettes. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  23. ^ "Baltimore Ravens History". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2006-08-25.
  24. ^ Chappell, Mike; Richards, Phil; Marchibroda, Ted (2004). Tales from the Indianapolis Colts Sideline. p. 21.
  25. ^ "Ravens Ring of Honor". Baltimore Ravens. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  26. ^ "Marching Band History". Baltimore Ravens. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  27. ^ a b King, Peter. Citing his crushing debts, Art Modell is taking his Browns to Baltimore . Sports Illustrated. 13 November 1995. Retrieved 19 May 2011
  28. ^ a b Crothers, Tim. Greedy owners are threatening to move their teams if demands for new stadiums, better lease deals, etc., aren't met. Sports Illustrated. 19 June 1995. Retrieved 19 May 2011
  29. ^ "Tampa Still Hopeful Bucs Will Stay Put". Orlando Sentinel. 1995-12-07. Retrieved 2010-08-07.
  30. ^ Sandomir, Richard PRO FOOTBALL; Lerner Wins Browns for $530 Million New York Times (accessed April 10, 2010)
  31. ^ "Top Ten Snakebit Franchises: Cleveland Browns". NFL Network 2010-05-14. Retrieved 2011-03-07
  32. ^ Grossi, Tony (2010-02-06) "Indianapolis Colts kicker Matt Stover has many ties to Cleveland Browns" The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 2011-03-07
  33. ^ "Bisciotti approved as co-owner of Ravens". Associated Press. 2000-03-27. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  34. ^ "Bisciotti now officially Ravens owner". Associated Press. 2004-04-08. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  35. ^ Livingston, Bill. Upon further review, Art Modell's case for Canton gets weaker every year. The Plain Dealer. 12 December 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  36. ^ John ClaytonNFL senior writerFollowArchive (2008-01-01). "NFL – Modell was a model owner in many ways – ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  37. ^ "Top 10 New NFL Rivalries". Sports Illustrated Retrieved 2011-03-07
  38. ^ "San Jose's MLS team moving to Houston". USA Today. 2005-12-15. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  39. ^ Latze, Jeff. "Seattle to retain SuperSonics banners and trophies".

Further reading

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