Question for any Browns fans

[Waltwam]

The way I remember it is Cleveland played hard ball with the Browns, and then gave the new owners the deal Modell had asked for. Modell gave Cleveland the Browns name back for nothing. He did not have to do that as it was worth a lot of money.

Not sure why ..... been a loooong time since they were competitive

 

[Obliviax]

The way I remember it is Cleveland played hard ball with the Browns, and then gave the new owners the deal Modell had asked for. Modell gave Cleveland the Browns name back for nothing. He did not have to do that as it was worth a lot of money.

That isn't correct. Modell hated Paul Brown, one of the original co-founders. Art Modell bought the Browns in 1961 and then fired Paul Brown in 1963. There was a LOT of animosity. Later, the NFL awarded Paul Brown a franchise which became the Cincy Bengals.

There were a lot of lawsuits filed between CLE, Ohio, Browns, Modell, MD and Baltimore. The NFL was looking like total schmucks because a team with one of the best fanbases in all of the NFL was getting screwed by a New York owner who screwed the co-founder (right or wrong, that was the narrative). The NFL stepped in and brokered a compromise. Modell would rename the franchise (which he wanted to do anyway) and move while CLE would get the next expansion and keep its traditions/colors/history.

Modell did get something: dropped lawsuits.

If you google the histories of the two teams it is all there. The only thing that isn't is that I know, for a fact, Modell moved the team to get cash from MD so that if he passed away, his heirs had enough money to pay their inheritance taxes.