Dear David Modell, the Cleveland Browns did in fact move

The Cleveland Browns left for Baltimore following the 1995 season. And the fans have the scars to prove it.

Dear David,

I hope this letter finds you well. After seeing your comments during the movie Believeland this past Saturday night, I felt it was necessary to pen this letter to show just how out of touch you truly are with the entire situation.

See David, the Cleveland Browns in fact did move. After the 1994 season your adopted father, Art Modell, was losing his grip on the franchise and spinning into a whirlwind of debt. He was upset and scorned that the city of Cleveland rewarded the Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Cavaliers with new venues in the heart of downtown Cleveland, and left him with dark and dreary Municipal Stadium by the lake. He felt that the city rewarded the second-class citizens and left the true bread winners of the sports landscape to fend for themselves.

He didn’t like it. In fact he hated it.

His disgust with the city of Cleveland’s mayor and city council drove him to act like a pouting child as he talked to anyone who would listen to his complaints on how his team was slighted by the city they carried since the 1960s.

Art felt like he got screwed over. That belief was coupled with his financial problems that became a public spectacle after he needed to take out a loan, using your mother’s credit because his was shot, to sign Andre “Bad Moon” Rison and facilitate a signing bonus.

He was so far in debt your father became desperate. When people become desperate to save their hides they will do the unthinkable at times David.

Art Modell disgraced himself as the caretaker of the Cleveland Browns as not once did he consider who he was hurting the most.

Of all the options in the realm of possibilities your father did the unthinkable. He could’ve done the right thing, knowing his financial situation, and sell the franchise to the late Al Lerner and allow the Lerners to lead the storied Cleveland Browns into the future. By doing so, Art would’ve been regarded as a saint within the city. He would’ve preserved the Cleveland Browns and the team’s long, storied tradition within the city its called home since its inception. He also would’ve been able to settle his financial issues with the sale, along with solidifying his place as an owner who helped evolve the game and placed the welfare of the franchise above his own personal gain.

Unfortunately, he chose to act on spite. He chose to worry about himself as he took his power as owner straight to his head. He used the team, the name, the colors and the history as leverage over the heads of everyone throughout the process. He disgraced himself as the caretaker of the Cleveland Browns as not once did he consider who he was hurting the most.

Forget the mayor, forget the city council and forget all the politics.

Art’s personal vendetta against city officials only hurt one group in the end. The fans.

David, the Browns moved. They didn’t press pause, it wasn’t a “scant” few months.

It was a nightmare. It was the worst thing that could ever happen to a fan. It was a breakup of all breakups.

We were there. We saw it firsthand. Did you?

The love affair between the Browns and Cleveland is well-known and documented since the late Paul Brown founded the franchise. Week after week fans would pack Municipal Stadium as the Dawg Pound barked in support of their favorite stars, such as Otto Graham, Jim Brown, Brian Sipe and Bernie Kosar.

Though old, dark and dreary, the stadium’s build allowed the sound to penetrate throughout, making it one of the toughest places to play in the NFL. No one wanted to play in Cleveland. No one wanted to face the true 12th man. The Cleveland Browns fans.

After Art announce the move in November of 1995, the stadium went black.

All the sponsors pulled out immediately as they wanted no part in their brand being associated with a franchise leaving its beloved fans. Team TV shows and radio shows were immediately canceled and city signs began to flash STOP ART MODELL throughout town.

The fans went on the march to save in reality what was theirs.

Your father, when he purchased the team, became the caretaker of the franchise. Ownership in sports is great and all, but in reality the owners of the team are the people who carry the legacy and pass it along from generation to generation… the fans.

During the three years that the team was gone, we were subjected to teams such as the Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills placing large advertisements in The Plain Dealer trying to recruit fans and “turn our brown eyes blue.” There was no pause.

As the newly founded Baltimore Ravens paraded around the NFL during the 1996 season, all you saw along the sidelines were boxes and gear labeled with the Cleveland Browns insignia, constantly reminding us that the Browns had moved and were now the Ravens.

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As you sat there and rambled the words you did during your interview for Believeland it was evident that you, to this day, don’t truly understand the impact of one man’s decision. In your effort to save face for Art, you further deepened the city’s disgust for what he did by not admitting that maybe, just maybe, things could’ve been handled differently.

In the end, Art sold the team a few years later anyway and lived out the rest of his life fighting to change his legacy as the man who stole football from Cleveland.

He never recovered, and to this day is consistently voted down as a member of the NFL Hall of Fame.

You asked what pound of flesh must be given.

None.

The damage has been done. The fate of a franchise forever altered. And the life of a man, once considered an NFL innovator, forever remembered as the villain who placed himself above the greater good of a franchise and its fans.

David, the Browns moved. And we have the scars to show it.

Sincerely,

The Fans

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