| Part of1995 NFL season | |
| Duration | December 1994–February 1996 |
|---|---|
| Also known as | "The Move" |
| Cause | Financial constraints within Browns ownership, team value and revenue losses under ownerArt Modell, state ofCleveland Stadium |
| Participants | Browns ownership, City of Cleveland, Art Modell, NFL CommissionerPaul Tagliabue, City ofBaltimore |
| Outcome | The suspension of theCleveland Browns franchise after the 1995 NFL season, the transfer of its assets and player contracts to an expansion franchise (theBaltimore Ravens) that began play in 1996, and the revival of the Browns franchise (restocked via anexpansion draft) in 1999 |
TheCleveland Browns relocation controversy—colloquially called "The Move" by fans[1][2]—followed the announcement byCleveland Browns ownerArt Modell that hisNational Football League (NFL) team wouldmove from its longtime home ofCleveland toBaltimore for the1996 NFL season.
Subsequent legal actions by the City of Cleveland and Browns season ticket holders led the NFL to broker a compromise in which Modell agreed to return the Browns franchise to the league. The agreement stipulated that the Browns franchise, including its history, records and intellectual property, would remain in Cleveland. In exchange, the NFL agreed to grant Modell a new franchise in Baltimore (which was eventually named theRavens) and the City of Cleveland agreed to build an NFL-caliber venue to replace the agingCleveland Stadium.
Since it was deemed unfeasible for the Browns to play the 1996 season in Cleveland under such circumstances, the franchise was officially deactivated by the NFL in February 1996. The NFL agreed to re-activate the Browns by1999 either by way of an expansion draft or by moving an existing team to Cleveland. In lieu of holding both adispersal draft for the Browns and anexpansion draft for the Ravens, the NFL allowed Modell to effectively transfer the Browns' existing football organization to the Ravens. As such, the Ravens are officially regarded by the NFL as anexpansion team that began play in1996.[3] By 1998, the NFL had ruled out moving any of the league's then-30 teams to Cleveland, committed to stocking the roster with an expansion draft, and sold the Browns franchise toAl Lerner, a former minority owner of the franchise under Modell, for $530 million.[4] The re-activated Browns acquired players through thisexpansion draft and, in 1999, resumed play in anew stadium that replaced the demolished one.[5][6]
This compromise, which was considered unprecedented at the time in North American professional sports, has since been cited in franchise moves and agreements in other leagues, including ones inMajor League Baseball (MLB),Major League Soccer (MLS), theNational Basketball Association (NBA), and theNational Hockey League (NHL). While there have been other subsequent franchise moves with various franchise agreements, there have been two times when there was a compromise virtually identical to the Browns–Ravens agreement: when theSan Jose Earthquakes of MLS suspended operations from 2006 and 2007 while their organization transferred to the newHouston Dynamo, and when theArizona Coyotes of the NHL suspended operations in 2024 while their organization transferred to the newUtah Mammoth.
In 1975, knowing that Municipal Stadium was costing the city more than $300,000 a year to operate, then-Browns ownerArt Modell signed a 25-year lease in which he agreed to incur these expenses in exchange for quasi-ownership of the stadium, a portion of his annual profits, and capital improvements to the stadium at his expense.[7] Modell's new company, Stadium Corporation, paid the city annual rents of $150,000 for the first five years and $200,000 afterwards.
Modell had originally promised never to move the Browns. He had publicly criticized theBaltimore Colts'move to Indianapolis, and had testified in favor of the NFL in court cases where the league unsuccessfully tried to stopAl Davis from moving theOakland Raiders to Los Angeles. However, Modell refused to share suite revenue with theCleveland Indians, who also played at Cleveland Stadium at that time, even though some of the revenues were generated during baseball games.
In 1990, voters approved a ballot measure to build a new sports complex, theGateway Sports and Entertainment Complex, which included a new baseball-only stadium and an arena.[8][7] Modell, believing that his revenues were not endangered, decided not to participate in the Gateway Project that builtJacobs Field for the Indians andGund Arena for theCleveland Cavaliers.[9] Modell's assumptions proved incorrect, and Stadium Corporation's suite revenues declined sharply when the Indians moved to Jacobs Field in 1994.[7] Soaring player salaries put additional financial pressure on the Browns' owner. Modell claimed to have lost $21 million between 1993 and 1994.[10]
Due to the massive and relatively consistent increase in the value of NFL franchises since the league's founding in 1920, the league has a long history of owners whose net worth is largely accounted for by the value of their football teams. Even today, many of the league's clubs are owned by businesspeople (or their heirs) who, while relatively well-off by the standards of the time, founded or purchased a football team which has since appreciated in value at a far higher rate than whatever other business interests they might have originally been involved in. However, even with those considerations in mind, Modell's net worth had always been relatively meager compared to most other principal owners in the NFL, despite his long influence in league circles.
The Browns' capitalization problems dated to their founding as a charterAll-America Football Conference (AAFC) franchise by legendary coachPaul Brown. Modell was recruited in large part because the NFL was desperate to avoid any perception of franchise instability within its ranks, especially in the face of competition with the then-fledgling (but well-financed)American Football League (AFL). As Cleveland had been decisive in ensuring the AAFC's relative success and eventual partial merger with the older league, the NFL was keen not to lose the market to a rival league – as it had in 1946 when it allowed theCleveland Rams to move to Los Angeles. Modell's purchase of the team was thus approved by the NFL under conditions that the league might otherwise have rejected. It was among the most heavily leveraged purchases in league history: most of the funds used to purchase the team were borrowed.
On the one hand, the eventual negotiation of amerger with the AFL ended the prospect of expensive bidding wars for players in an era when true free agency did not exist, thus allowing the Browns to remain competitive on the field despite a tight budget. Nevertheless, Modell spent most of his tenure as Browns owner in financial difficulty, especially as interest rates soared and the costs of operating an NFL team escalated with the value of the league's franchises. As the 1960's came to a close, the Browns appeared in the NFL'sfinal pre-merger championship game, yet Modell's finances were so perilous that they were a major factor in his decision to lobby for the Browns (along with thePittsburgh Steelers andBaltimore Colts) to be moved to theAmerican Football Conference upon completion of the merger in 1970 in exchange for financial compensation from the other NFL and AFL owners. However, the $3 million payout (equal to approximately $24 million today) ultimately proved woefully insufficient to clear the team's growing debts.
The Browns' financial situation led Modell to take legally questionable measures to remain solvent. For example, he tried to transfer liability for several personal bad loans to the Browns organization, prompting one of his minority partners to sue him. As early as 1983, Modell concluded that he would never be able to pay all of his debts before his deal with the city expired.[11] The loss of revenue from the Indians hit Modell especially hard. After realizing how much revenue was lost from the Indians moving out of Cleveland Stadium, he requested a referendum be placed on the ballot to provide $175 million in taxes to refurbish the outmoded and declining Cleveland Stadium.[12]
Baltimore had previously attempted to woo theCincinnati Bengals and owner Mike Brown into moving his team earlier in the decade, with Brown even visiting with a group in the city in his own attempts to get a new venue for his team.[13][14]
On December 12, 1994, Modell told his board that he did not believe a referendum to raise thesin tax would pass, as the proceeds would have been used to either fund a renovated Municipal Stadium or a new stadium. Modell then informed them that if the referendum failed, he would be finished in Cleveland, and would have no choice but to move the Browns.[11]
Entering the1995 season, the Browns, coached byBill Belichick, were coming off aplayoff season in 1994 in which the team finished 11–5 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs.Sports Illustrated predicted that the Browns would represent theAFC inSuper Bowl XXX at the end of the 1995 season, and the team started 3–1, but they then lost their next three games.[15][16]
While this was happening, Browns minority ownerAl Lerner was privately prodding Modell to consider moving to Baltimore. He urged Modell to contact John Moag, the newly installedMaryland Stadium Authority chairman. Earlier in the year, the league had told Moag that Baltimore would get a team (either an expansion team or an existing team that would be moved from another city) if a stadium were already in place.
Elected officials in Baltimore and Maryland were still smarting from theColtsmoving toIndianapolis after the1983 season, and refused to commit any money towards a new stadium unless the Stadium Authority secured a deal with a team. With this in mind, Moag made several calls to Modell that went ignored for much of 1995. Finally, in late July, Modell allowed Lerner to meet with Moag, provided that Lerner stress that Modell was not serious about moving. At that meeting, Moag laid out an offer in which the Browns would get the rights to a new, $220 million stadium if they moved to Baltimore. However, Moag told Lerner to take the offer back to Modell only if he was serious about considering a move.[11]
Negotiations continued in secret until September, when Moag told Lerner that if the Browns were serious about moving, "you need to act and act now." A few days later, Lerner, Modell and Moag met at Lerner'sMidtown Manhattan office. At that meeting, Moag presented amemorandum of understanding that was almost identical to what he'd offered theCincinnati Bengals a few months earlier: a deal that ultimately led Cincinnati voters to pass a referendum that built what would becomePaul Brown Stadium. Indeed, some paragraphs still referred to "Cincinnati" rather than "Cleveland." Modell still had some trepidation about the deal, but signed after Moag assured him that Baltimore fans would hail him as a hero.[11]
Soon afterward, Modell toldSan Francisco 49ers presidentCarmen Policy that he was moving the Browns to Baltimore. Policy had been well aware that relations between Modell and Cleveland had become rather strained, and was secretly working withPittsburgh Steelers ownerDan Rooney to keep the Browns in Cleveland. Policy urged Modell to sit down withNFL CommissionerPaul Tagliabue in hopes of resolving the situation, but Modell rejected it out of hand.[11]
On November 6, 1995, with the team at 4–5,[16] Modell announced in a press conference atCamden Yards that he had signed a deal to move the Browns to Baltimore for the 1996 season.[7][17] The team would play at the Colts' former home (Memorial Stadium) while the new stadium was being built. Modell said he felt the city of Cleveland did not have the funding nor political will to build a first-class stadium.[18] The very next day, on November 7, Cleveland voters overwhelmingly approved the aforementioned tax issue to remodel Cleveland Stadium.[19]
Despite this, Modell ruled out a reversal of his decision, maintaining publicly that his relationship with Cleveland had been irrevocably severed. "The bridge is down, burned, disappeared", he said. "There's not even a canoe there for me."[20] In truth, Modell had been brought to tears when he signed the memorandum of understanding in September: he had even told Moag that signing it was "the hardest thing I've ever done" and meant "the end of our life in Cleveland." Years later, longtime Browns general counsel Jim Bailey toldThe Athletic that Modell was "an emotional wreck" when he signed the memorandum.[11]
The City of Cleveland sued Modell, the Browns, Stadium Corp, theMaryland Stadium Authority, and the authority's director, John A. Moag Jr., inCity 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, filing an injunction to keep the Browns in the city until at least 1998. Several other lawsuits were filed by fans and ticket holders.[19][21] TheUnited States Congress even held hearings on the matter.[22][23]
ComedianDrew 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 inPittsburgh during the Browns' game there against thePittsburgh Steelers, butABC, the network broadcasting the game (and also the home ofCarey's new sitcom that had just premiered), declined to cover or mention the protest. That game 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-standingrivalry with the Browns.[19] Browns fans reacted with anger to the news,[21] wearing hats and T-shirts that read "Muck Fodell".[24]
On the field, the Browns stumbled to finish 5–11 after the announcement, ahead of only theexpansionJacksonville Jaguars, to whom they lost twice, in theAFC Central, becoming the first team in the NFL's modern era to lose twice to a first-year expansion team.[16] Virtually all of the team's sponsors pulled their support,[19] leaving Cleveland Stadium devoid of advertising during the team's final weeks. After the announcement, the team lost all their home games except the final, in which they defeated theCincinnati Bengals 26–10.[25] The game itself wasblacked out on television locally onWKYC, butNBC did broadcast extensive pregame coverage from Cleveland. During the broadcast, hostBob Costas noted the "final sad irony" ofBrooklyn native Modell moving a beloved franchise much asWalter O'Malley had moved theDodgers toLos Angeles.
After extensive talks, the NFL, Modell, and officials of the two cities came to terms – among them, Modell agreed to keep the Browns legacy in Cleveland if the city dropped its lawsuit. While a number of parties had already expressed interest in acquiring the Browns, it soon became clear that no viable owner would be ready to operate a football team on such short notice; moreover, the NFL had insisted on the replacement of Cleveland Stadium, whereas the city had no other venue that met NFL requirements for even temporary use. Thus, on February 9, 1996, the NFL announced that the Browns franchise would be "deactivated" for at least three years, and thata new stadium would be built for a revived Browns team, as either an expansion team or a team moved from another city, that would begin play by 1999, while in exchange Modell would be granted a new franchise – the 31st NFL franchise – for Baltimore.[3][26]
Modell was permitted to retain the current contracts of players and other football personnel. He replaced head coach Belichick withTed Marchibroda, whose previous head coaching stints had been with the Colts: in Baltimore in the 1970s and in Indianapolis just before he was hired by Modell's still-unnamed Baltimore team. Modell also changed the name of hisholding company from Cleveland Browns, Inc. to Baltimore Ravens, Inc.[27] Modell is typically reckoned to have moved the football organization, but not the franchise itself. The transaction was similar to the establishment of Baltimore'spreceding NFL team, the 1953–83 Colts, whose ownerCarroll Rosenbloom was awarded the player contracts and related football assets of the moribundDallas Texans. The Texans were dissolved and their history is not claimed by the Colts, theDallas Cowboys, or any other extant franchise.
The settlement stipulated that the reactivated team for Cleveland would retain the Browns' name, colors, history, records, awards, and archives. It was approved by league owners after a 25–2 vote, with three abstentions. The two "no" votes were fromRalph Wilson of Buffalo and Dan Rooney of Pittsburgh.[25][28][29] The three abstentions were from the owners whose teams at the time had most recently moved (theCardinals,Raiders andRams), including Raiders' owner Al Davis who had publicly clashed with Modell over franchise moves.
An additional stipulation was that the Browns would be placed in a division with thePittsburgh Steelers andCincinnati Bengals to continue the teams' longstanding rivalries.[30] Upon their reactivation in 1999, the Browns were placed in the AFC Central with the Steelers and Bengals, as well as the Ravens,Titans, andJaguars. The rearrangement put teams from Baltimore, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh in the same NFL division for the first time. When the NFL reorganized into divisions of four teams for the2002 season, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Baltimore remained together in the newAFC North, while Tennessee, Jacksonville,Indianapolis (from theAFC East), and the expansionHouston Texans were placed in the newAFC South.
The only other active NFL team to temporarily suspend operations without merging with another was Cleveland's previous NFL team, theRams, which did not field a team for the 1943 season due to a shortage of players at the height ofWorld War II.[31]
The return of the NFL to Baltimore compelled the departure of the city's existing professional football team: theGrey Cup championBaltimore Stallions of theCanadian Football League (CFL). Although they had drawn respectable fan support during their two seasons in Baltimore, Stallions ownerJim Speros knew his team could not compete with an NFL team, and in any case would have likely been evicted from Memorial Stadium to make way for the Ravens. Speros opted to re-establish theMontreal Alouettes, a move that effectively ended the CFL'sU.S. expansion experiment.[32] The team assumed the name and history of the team that previously played in the city, theAlouettes, which had ceased operations just days before the start of the 1987 season.
Focus groups, a telephone survey, and a fan contest were held to help pick a new name for Modell's team. Team officials reduced an initial list of more than 100 names to 17. Focus groups of a total of 200 Baltimore area residents reduced the list to six, and then a phone survey of 1,000 people trimmed it to three: Marauders, Americans, and Ravens. Finally, a fan contest drawing 33,288 voters picked "Ravens", alluding to the poem "The Raven" byEdgar Allan Poe, who spent the latter part of his life in Baltimore and is buried there.[33] The team adopted purple and black as their team colors, a stark contrast to the Browns' brown and orange.[34] The former Colts Marching Band, which remained in Baltimore after the Colts moved to Indianapolis, was renamed theBaltimore's Marching Ravens.[35] TheWashington Commanders are the only other NFL team with an officialmarching band.
Modell's move to Baltimore came amid an unprecedented flurry of similar threats – and actual moves –[36][37] that fueled 12 new stadiums throughout the NFL. The Seahawks, Buccaneers, Bengals, Lions, Cardinals, and Bears used the threat of moving to coerce their respective cities to build new stadiums with public funds.[36][37] Modell's team was one of four that actually moved between1995 and1997: Los Angeles lostboth of its teams for the 1995 season, as theRaiders moved back to Oakland and theRams moved east to St. Louis (the Rams would later move back to Los Angeles in 2016); and theHouston Oilers moved toTennessee in 1997, where they became theTennessee Titans two years later.
As with all other moves, NFL football continued to air on local television in Cleveland due to the league's television contracts. During the three years the Browns suspended operations, the NFL ordered its broadcast partners to air games featuring the Browns' two biggest rivals, the Bengals and Steelers, on Cleveland's local stations. Two official secondary markets the Browns share with another team – Columbus andYoungstown – both primarily aired games from the teams the Browns shared those markets with, with Columbus airing Bengals games and Youngstown airing Steelers games.Erie, Pennsylvania, which is officially a secondary market for theBuffalo Bills but airs many Browns games due to Erie's close proximity to Cleveland, aired more Bills home games as well as Steelers games whenever it didn't come in conflict with the Bills away schedule.Toledo, a secondary market the Browns share with theDetroit Lions, carried AFC games involvingMichigan Wolverines alumni, asAnn Arbor as well as Detroit are within 75 miles of Toledo, and occasionallyIndianapolis Colts games.
After several NFL teams threatened to move to Cleveland to become the reactivated Browns (most notably theTampa Bay Buccaneers[38]), the NFL decided in 1998 to make the reactivated Browns anexpansion team;[5] while temporarily giving 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), this also eliminated any possibility of an existing franchise giving up its own identity for the Browns and thus prevented morelawsuits. In an ironic twist,Al Lerner – who helped Modell move to Baltimore – was granted ownership of the reactivated Browns;[39] his sonRandy took over ownership after Al's death in 2002 before selling the team toPilot Flying J CEOJimmy Haslam in 2012.
From its beginning, the odd number of teams and the ensuing awkward scheduling was considered a temporary arrangement pending the addition of a 32nd NFL franchise. Although Los Angeles was heavily favored, it was ultimatelyHouston that was awarded the league's 32nd team for the2002 NFL season. The 2002 expansion led to a major re-alignment of the NFL into eight four-team divisions. The Jaguars and Titans joined the Texans in the newAFC South along with theColts, Baltimore's former team, who moved from theAFC East. The Browns and Ravens' division was rebranded as theAFC North. Finally, to keep the conferences equal in size, theSeattle Seahawks (who had played their inaugural season in theNational Football Conference) moved from theAFC West to theNFC West.
After Houston returned to the NFL, Los Angeles became the favored destination for owners threatening to move their teams until theSt. Louis Rams finally returned to Los Angeles for the2016 season,[40] followed the next year by theSan Diego Chargers (who had called L.A. home in the early days of theAmerican Football League).[41]
Two of the players from the Browns'1995 roster returned to Cleveland in 1999:Antonio Langham, who spent the 1998 season with theSan Francisco 49ers and was claimed by the Browns in the expansion draft, andOrlando Brown, who played for Baltimore until 1998 and signed with Cleveland as a free agent. Each would play only the 1999 season in Cleveland, and would be the only two players to play for the Browns under both the Modell and Lerner organizations.
The reactivated Browns have had only four winning seasons since returning to the NFL in 1999: 9–7 in2002, 10–6 in2007, 11–5 in2020, and 11–6 in2023, earningwild card berths in the playoffs in 2002, 2020, and 2023. The Ravens have been more successful, reaching the playoffs 15 times since2000 and winningSuper Bowl XXXV andSuper Bowl XLVII, to the dismay of Browns fans.[25][42] LongtimeplacekickerMatt Stover was the last remaining Ravens player that played for the Modell-owned Browns; the Ravens chose not to re-sign him after the2008 season, and he finished his career with the Indianapolis Colts.[43] General manager and former Brownstight endOzzie Newsome (who was in a front-office role under Modell in Cleveland) remained with the Ravens until he retired in 2018.
InPittsburgh, Steelers ownerDan Rooney had opposed Modell's move to Baltimore, citing respect for the team and its fans. (Rooney andRalph Wilson of the Bills were the only two such owners.) The new Browns' lack of success cooled the once-heatedBrowns–Steelers rivalry, at least in Pittsburgh, where some fans consider theRavens–Steelers rivalry itsspiritual successor[44]; Browns fans still consider it their top rivalry, and even Pittsburgh fans took note when the Browns defeated the Steelers 48–37 in the 2020 Wild Card playoff round.[45]
Modell continued to struggle financially after the move. Like several other owners who had acquired their teams before theAFL–NFL merger, Modell's net worth was primarily derived from the appreciation of his team's value, and he had relatively little outside wealth to help underwrite his club's expenses. The NFL directed Modell to sell the team, and on March 27, 2000, NFL owners approved the sale of 49 percent of the Ravens toSteve Bisciotti.[46] On April 8, 2004, owners approved Bisciotti's request to exercise his option to buy the remaining 51 percent for $325 million.[47]
This did little to improve Modell's reputation among Browns fans, who still hated him for the move and for his 1963 firing of head coachPaul Brown, who went on to found thearch-rival Bengals in 1968. Some believe the move and its related lawsuits kept Modell out of thePro Football Hall of Fame inCanton, Ohio, 60 miles south of Cleveland and part of the Cleveland television market and Browns' territorial rights.[48][49] Modell died in 2012 having never returned to Cleveland.[10] The following Sunday, the Browns were the only home team that did not acknowledge Modell's death: his stepsonDavid Modell had feared that fans would react with anger.[50]
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It's expected that the final transaction will include a clause that allows Meruelo to "reactivate" the franchise as an expansion team – paying what's expected to be a $1 billion expansion fee if that happens – between now and 2029 if his arena project is completed. All of the team's intellectual property – including those iconic Kachina jerseys – would remain with Meruelo. It's an agreement that evokes the deal made with the city of Cleveland when the Browns moved to Baltimore in 1995.
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| Key personnel |
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| Culture and lore | |
| Rivalries | |
| Division championships (8) | |
| Conference championships (2) | |
| League championships (2) | |
| Hall of Fame inductees | |
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