Is the city of Baltimore no better than the Irsays?

Modell really messed up his team years before the move to Baltimore with the shitty stadium deal he made. Modell was a horrible business man and a even worse football owner. The fact that Modell has a Super Bowl victory to his credit is more a statement on the great job that Ozzie Newsome has done drafting/scouting for the Baltimore Ravens. If Modell did not screw himself with the Cleveland Stadium business deal there would have been no reason to move the team. The fans always supported the team. Its not fair to say the fans did not support the team because of blackouts because Cleveland Stadium had over 80,000 seats and pathetic facilities all Modell's fault. I might be a Browns fan if they had ever put a quality team on the field consistently.

 

But you can't hold it against the Irsays if you are a Ravens fan who helped facilitate the Browns' exodus.

 

That's crap (and how could you love Municipal? It was shit!!).

The Browns were always the life's blood of that city. Sure, it had the improving Indians. Sure it had the rock hall. But NOTHING pulled that city together like a Browns game. And you sitting there saying no one gave a shit in 1995 is crap. I still had friends up there. No one was bailing like you make it sound like they were.

 

This statement is just as true as that which IJAG made above. Browns fans supported their team and they are still incredibly loyal as awful as that franchise has become (much like Cubs fans). That said, Pancamo is correct too. Amazing how stadiums were built for the historically poor (at that time) Indians and Cavaliers but no one could step up for the Browns?! Still boggles my mind this long after the fact.

 

The historical revisionism on this thread cannot go without a response...

1. Yes, Irsay was a lout, while Modell was generally respected as a "pillar of the community" and philanthropist during his time at Cleveland. That makes it even more unfortunate that he squandered his legacy -- both in the NFL, and in his adopted hometown -- by selling out his friends and turning his back on the people who made him a multi-millionaire.

2. Modell was offered a chance to participate in the Gateway project (which eventually built new homes for the Indians and Cavaliers). Modell DECLINED to take part. THAT is a FACT.

3. Modell and his even-more-sleazy adopted son repeatedly denied that they would even consider leaving their "home," and Art went so far as to declare a "moratorium" on any discussion of stadium issues -- all this while Modell was actively plotting his exit to Baltimore.

4. A massive stadium-renovation project was on the ballot in 1995 and passed only days after the move to Baltimore was announced.

5. Modell was up to his ears in debt, and he probably saw the move to Baltimore as his one last chance to be able to pass the team down to his son. But despite receiving an incredibly lucrative (for its time) stadium deal, HE STILL WAS FORCED TO SELL THE CLUB. Cleveland shouldn't have been forced to pay for Modell's reckless (and ultimately unsuccessful) gambit to save the team for his heirs.

6. Modell had no intention of allowing Cleveland to keep the Browns' name, colors and tradition. If not for massive and unprecedented fan backlash against the NFL, the Baltimore Browns would be playing the Colts today. (Modell's comments to the contrary in later interviews are convenient revisionism.)

There's much more, but that's all I feel like writing for now.

 

Pay no attention, ever, to any professional sports franchise owner caterwauling about how he's losing money. (ESPECIALLY not an NFL owner.)

NO NFL franchise has lost money over any fiscal year, any time in the last 35 years. None. Never.

It's complete bullshit. "Brother, can you spare a dime?" "Alms for the poor!!!"

 

I put this on the NFL div. playoffs thread, but it's probably more suited to this thread. Ravens fans are still angry, angry, angry.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/ravens/2007-01-13-fans-sidebar_x.htm

 

Indy fans should place an ad in The (Setting) Sun praising the fans for their grace and congratulating the Ravens for their fine offensive effort.

Then they should stiff the paper on the bill.

 

I couldn't watch the game, but I listened on the radio. I kinda dig that there was reference to Colts on the scoreboard, and the P.A. announcer introduced them as "the Indianapolis football team."

 

Don't forget the troughs at Muni... you haven't lived until you pissed in a trough.

 

1) It's been touched on previously, but it should be emphasized that attendance for the Colts was awful. And the excuse that "attendance was bad because the team stunk" is bogus. The Colts hosted the Raiders in 1977 playoffs - - but the game was blacked out because it didn't sell out. To suggest Baltimore fans loyally supported the Colts (even when the team was successful) is a myth. I say this having lived in Maryland for 35 years. In fact, during the Ravens' 1996 & 1997 seasons, when the team played in old Memorial Stadium, the games were "sold out" but the supposedly football-starved fans in Baltimore left more than 15,000 empty seats. I believe the Ravens were second only to the Jets in the number of tickets sold that were not used. (It's too bad the NFL stopped releasing each game's actual attendance, as opposed to the number of tickets sold.)

2) As noted by busuncle, Cleveland DID offer to build a new stadium for Modell. He declined, saying he preferred to have the team play in Municipal Stadium. Again, this is so well known and documented, I find it stunning the "Cleveland forced Modell to move" crowd continues with its revisionist statements.

3) Also as noted by busuncle, it was never Modell's intent to leave the Browns name and team colors with Cleveland. In fact, John Moat (who brokered the move for the State of Maryland) acknowledged exactly that. It was hoped the well-established loyalty of Browns fans (especially those in "Browns Backer" clubs in the Baltimore and Wash, DC area) would be transferred to Baltimore.

4) I dispute the assertion that the November, 1996 vote in Cuyahoga County to renovate Municipal Stadium would have failed if news about Modell's move of the team had not leaked. On the contrary, conventional wisdom was that the vote would pass, and the leak was done in part to anger people into voting "against Modell" by voting against the Stadium renovation.

 

Yeah, the troughs weren't the problem. People would piss anywhere there was an open space.