Quote:
Originally Posted by Digetydog
To my knowledge, my grandfather never used a curse word or ever raised his voice in anger. He was a typical, nice old man.
But, he was a lifelong Cleveland Browns fan. He never forgave Modell.
While cities like Jacksonville may not be large enough or may not support their teams (numerous LA teams), the Browns had one of the most loyal and passionate fan bases. Even in bad years, they packed that dump of a stadium year after year.
Simply put, Modell took a bribe from Baltimore to relocate a historic franchise. Then, he ran the Ravens into the ground and need a new owner to come in to bail him out. "Despite a no-cost stadium lease, all revenues from parking, concessions, and TV, as well as a reported $25M Maryland subsidy, Modell's ownership of the Ravens resulted in continual financial hardships, and the NFL stepped in and directed Modell to sell his franchise."
RIH
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Cleveland.
Nuff said.
Modell is one of the best and most visionary owners in NFL history, hands down. he brough football back to a real football passionate city (Baltimore). He say the value to the league of TV before most, and drove the league in that direction, and was a guiding hand behind a number of comissioners in growing the league. He also set the bar of quality in Baltimore for it's ongoing success as a franchise.
The fact that he couldn't afford to compete within a small-market city and made he right business decision to relocate to a better city in every way means less than nothing on Modell's lifelong resume of success.
At least he left Clevland with it's stupid "Hi, I'm a Color!" name and history, settin gthe stage for this (great IMO) change away from owners taking the Cities history with them.