Report: Jimmy Haslam COULD Trade Browns for Titans; Refuted
In a surprisingly odd story, even for the Cleveland Browns, comes a report from Jason La Canforna that Jimmy Haslam could trade the Browns for ownership of the Tennessee Titans:
"And there remain rumblings of one bizarre, remote possibility, which would involve a complicated franchise switch. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam badly, badly wanted to own the Titans, in his home state of Tennessee. But at the time the Browns became available a few years back, he had a decision to make — wait for the Titans to come to the market, eventually, and hope to win a bidding war against giants like Smith and Tepper (sources said he was advised by the league that’s a battle he might not be able to win), or move quickly to land the Browns. He chose Cleveland.“Don’t ignore the possibility of a swap with the Browns when that time comes,” said one source who deals directly with many ownership groups. Some tax issues could prevent the Titans sale from happening as quickly as some others — the Browns and Bills have changed hands quite quickly in recent years — but make no mistake this has become more of a front-burner issue now with the NFL, and it would certainly behoove the NFL to have it wrapped up in 2015."
If it sounds ridiculous to you, it likely should. We can’t find anything like it in recent history. Than again is there anything like the futility the Browns have shown on the field for years?
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To be fair, it has long been known that Haslam would have preferred to purchase the Titans. He is from the state, his family is royalty in the state and his businesses are headquartered in the state. Heck he even had the Browns new scoreboards shaped like his home state.
The only way, and his is a far out chance, that this could possibly have any legs is if another owner passionately wanted to buy the Browns. That would likely only happen if someone had ties to the area or state. Not reporting or speculating but Dan Gilbert is the only one that comes to mind as a possibility. If Gilbert pushed and worked with the NFL to acquire the Browns therein allowing Haslam to purchase the Titans, maybe that would work. Maybe there is another possible owner with state ties.
Quickly a number came a number of people refuting the story, as most of us have assumed, as not true:
League source on LaCanfora report re: future potential ownership swap of #Titans #Browns "not true...should be ignored"
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) March 23, 2015
A #browns spokesman said "there is no truth to the careless speculation from the reporter" (regarding report that Haslam might want Titans)
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) March 23, 2015
Well it was fun while it lasted. Some fans would be very excited to see Haslam leave but put me in the corner of wishing and praying for stability within the organization. Change has been the only constant for the team and it would be nice to see that change for once.
What did you think when you heard the report that Jimmy Haslam could swap the Browns for the Titans?