Browns' Move to Baltimore: The Birth of the Ravens and a City's Heartbreak

[00:00:00] On November 6th, 1994, Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell stood in front of Camden Yard and announced what is now known as The Move.

[00:00:10] That the Cleveland Browns, the team that he owned, was going to leave Cleveland and move to the football-hungry city of Baltimore in the following season,

[00:00:20] making him a hero in Baltimore and a villain in Cleveland.

[00:00:24] Today we're going to dive into how this all happened and how the Cleveland Browns, despite moving to Baltimore, are still in the league today on Daily Sports History.

[00:00:41] Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide as you daily learn more about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge.

[00:00:49] And today's trivia question to listen out for is, who was the coach of the Browns when they moved from Cleveland to Baltimore?

[00:01:00] Now the Cleveland Browns have been around for a long time. They were founded in 1944 by the coach Paul Brown and a businessman named Arthur McBride

[00:01:09] and became a charter member of the All-American Football Conference in 1946. And they dominated that conference, winning four straight titles.

[00:01:18] And after that conference folded, they would later join the NFL in 1950, where they immediately showed their dominance, winning the 1950 NFL championship.

[00:01:29] And would win four more by 1964. But that was their last NFL championship. And a main reason being largely due to their owner.

[00:01:40] See, McBride, who founded the team with Paul Brown, decided to sell the team in 1953 for $600,000, which was a record at the time, which due to inflation would be around $7 million today.

[00:01:54] And they would sell them to a group led by New York ad executive, Art Modell, who wasn't a rich man, but was a hard worker.

[00:02:03] But because he did not have the money, he had to find friends and finance a lot of it.

[00:02:08] And this was the downfall of the team, because at this time, teams needed money to back football was the NFL was an upstarting league.

[00:02:17] It was growing year over year, but it still required a lot of capital to keep things going.

[00:02:22] And before Art Modell even moved within 10 years, Art Modell was a villain to a lot of the Cleveland faithful as he fired Paul Brown, founder of the team, who the team is named after due to questionable decisions such as trading for Ernie Davis, who is a running back from Syracuse,

[00:02:42] who was the first black Heisman Trophy winner when they already had Jim Brown.

[00:02:46] And unfortunately, this happened just before Ernie found out he had leukemia and would later pass away, never playing a down for the Browns.

[00:02:54] But even after firing him, the Browns would go on to win the 1964 championship and reach the title game the following year.

[00:03:01] But as the seasons went on and they merged with the AFL and Paul Brown, who started a new team in Cincinnati for the AFL called the Cincinnati Bengals,

[00:03:09] who after the merger between AFL and NFL became a rival of the Browns.

[00:03:13] But because of this merger in 1970, money kept going up.

[00:03:18] The AFL really pushed the NFL to pay players more and it cost the NFL owners a lot more.

[00:03:24] Now, some of them had money to pay for, had great financial situations.

[00:03:28] But Art Modell was leveraged as much as he could be and he was moving around money.

[00:03:35] He started a corporation called the Stadium Corporation that was looking for other sites as the municipal stadium that they had been playing in needed renovations and it cost $300,000 a year to operate.

[00:03:47] So they looked for a new site and they were okay for a while because they were sharing the facility with the Cleveland Indians who were helping split the rent for Art Modell.

[00:03:57] But this stadium corporation would buy land, buy location, sell it back to the Browns or sell it back to the corporation,

[00:04:03] basically moving money around, making it look like there was money when there really wasn't.

[00:04:08] It was financially basically a house of cars that were waiting to fall down.

[00:04:13] And it was coming due as the Cleveland Indians were going to build their own park and were leaving municipal stadium,

[00:04:19] meaning the Browns would have to pay for the whole bill.

[00:04:21] And the stadium needed renovations.

[00:04:24] There were multiple complexes, multiple options that went to vote, looking for a public to help split the bill.

[00:04:31] But each time it was denied.

[00:04:32] By 1994, after losing reported over $20 million the last couple of years, Art either had to sell the team or move.

[00:04:40] And in December of 1994, Modell told the board of the Browns that he did not believe that any money would come back in to help pay for the stadium.

[00:04:50] And he would move the Browns.

[00:04:52] And entering the 1995 seasons, the Browns had a young upstart coach, Bill Belichick,

[00:04:58] coming off a playoff season where they finished 11-5 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs.

[00:05:02] They were looking good.

[00:05:04] Three and one.

[00:05:05] But behind the scenes, Art Modell was looking for locations to move.

[00:05:09] And the top location was Baltimore, who had lost a team previously in the Colts,

[00:05:14] who in 1983 moved in the middle of the night to Indianapolis.

[00:05:19] We covered this in a previous episode.

[00:05:21] And we'll put a link in the description for you to hear all about that.

[00:05:25] And they promised them a new stadium.

[00:05:27] And they would split the bill for them, helping Art Modell out financially.

[00:05:31] And it became easier as the Browns started to crumble in the season.

[00:05:35] Started out three and one, and now they were four and five.

[00:05:38] And on November 6, 1995, in front of Camden Yard, Art Modell announced he signed a deal to move the Browns to Baltimore for the 1996 season,

[00:05:48] where they would play at the former home of the Colts Memorial Stadium while a new stadium would be built.

[00:05:53] Modell said he did not feel like the city of Cleveland was helping enough to build a first-class stadium

[00:05:59] that the Browns desperately needed.

[00:06:02] And quickly after this decision, Art Modell became public enemy number one.

[00:06:06] And many filed lawsuits and injunctions versus him and the Cleveland Browns to stop them from moving.

[00:06:14] But none of them came to fruition.

[00:06:15] And after all of this, the NFL got involved.

[00:06:18] As many had requested to buy the Browns so they could stay in Cleveland because they were a staple of the league.

[00:06:26] And the NFL decided, you know, we're going to let them move as a team.

[00:06:31] They're going to keep their team.

[00:06:32] They're going to change their name, which they decided to change their name,

[00:06:36] to the Ravens after Edgar Allan Poe, who wrote the story while he lived in Baltimore.

[00:06:43] And then three years later, they would give a new team to the Browns and they would keep all the continuity of the Browns.

[00:06:50] So all their banners, all their championships, all the previous indications of the Browns were basically reactivated in 1999.

[00:06:58] Essentially giving Art Modell an expansion team in Baltimore where a new team started in Browns.

[00:07:06] Now, unfortunately for the Browns, the Ravens have gone on to win two titles since the move, whereas the Browns have not won since.

[00:07:14] In 2004, Modell was forced to sell the team due to financial hardships as he sold it to minority owner Steve for $600 million.

[00:07:24] And he would pass away in 2012 and the Ravens would wear an art patch on their uniform for the rest of the season.

[00:07:31] And everyone in the league would hold a moment in silence for Art Modell during the next week's games,

[00:07:37] all except the Cleveland Browns, based off the wishes of Art's son saying he didn't want to upset Cleveland anymore than his father already had.

[00:07:47] It was a challenging time, but it allowed the league to turn.

[00:07:50] Baltimore has become a staple of the league and the Browns are still a staple, although they have struggled even in their second iteration ever since letting go of Paul Brown.

[00:08:00] They have never been able to reach the success they once had.

[00:08:04] And if you want to learn more about the Baltimore Ravens, check out Ravens Talk,

[00:08:09] where host Sam Nujoku analyzes Baltimore on and off the field, giving you a unique perspective from the media and a fan.

[00:08:18] And if you enjoyed today's episode, please like and subscribe wherever you're at.

[00:08:22] And come back tomorrow for more, and come back tomorrow for more Daily Sports History.

[00:08:29] And the answer to today's trivia question,

[00:08:31] who was the coach of the Browns when they moved from Cleveland to Baltimore?

[00:08:35] It was legendary coach Bill Belichick.