Browns fans can teach Indians fans about keeping teams in Cleveland

Was all that money worth it?

Art Modell received a great deal of money for moving the Browns and won two Super Bowls in his lifetime. Many people in Baltimore loved him for what we consider to be his crimes.

Was it worth it, Arthur? He could never set foot in Cleveland again because he might literally be killed.

Many close friendships in Cleveland were utterly destroyed forever. There was a joke, if you were in a room with Stalin, Hitler, and Modell and had a gun with just two bullets, who would survive? The answer was Stalin and Hitler because you would shoot Modell twice.

The leverage that Cleveland has is that no one wants the franchise move scenario to occur because no sane person would want to bring upon himself all the grief that befell Modell.

He was the most hated man in Cleveland. Despite all the accolades from the City of Baltimore, it could not be worth it to have inspired that much hatred in a city that formerly considered him to be a great leader of a great organization.

To throw this away was an enormous loss. One wonders whether enduring all this hate was an acceptable price to pay for those Super Bowls and the multimillion-dollar package Baltimore put together for him. Surely, no one would bring that amount of hatred upon himself and his family lightly.

This writer is not asking anyone to feel sorry for Art Modell. However, if common sense is allowed to prevail, the right deal will be struck with the Dolans and an acceptable renewal lease will be created. Back in 1995, there were many mistakes that were made in negotiating — or failing to negotiate — a deal for a new Stadium lease and renovation. There were at least two huge errors.

One error was information.

From what we know, Modell did not understand that Jacobs Field was going to reduce the revenue from Luxury Box rentals at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, and thus he did not acquire a role in the Gateway project.

Certainly, he should have been responsible for due diligence. Since the Indians had 81 home dates and the Browns had 10, doesn’t that sound like a potential loss of revenue from Luxury Box rentals?  Or perhaps he thought he would be compensated in some other way.

In any case, he did seem to understand the implications of Jacobs Field, and he did wind up in serious financial difficulty, though we could argue about whose fault it was.

A second error was letting egos get in the way, and there were some huge egos involved in this case. From what we know, city negotiators were told that Modell was going to move the team but did not believe him. Modell, for his part, was angry and wanted to stick it to the people who were stonewalling a deal that was not nearly as lucrative as the deal he was getting from Baltimore. It sounded like they had 10-year-old boys in charge of things in 1995.

It is reasonable to believe that people will accept a fair deal if it is put before them. If a reasonable deal can be made to continue to upgrade Progressive Field, it stands to reason that the Dolans can work something out if negotiations are carried out in good faith.