In 1961 an American businessman born in Brooklyn, NY in 1925, whose father George was a wine sales manager who purchased a National Football League franchise and under his leadership was considered one of the flagship franchises, not to mention a institution to many Northern Ohioans. After 34 years however, that proud team was gone and left a bad taste in the mouths, especially in the 2000 season when many Ohioans saw their former team under a new name claimed the biggest prize in the NFL. From that point forward despite all that this great owner did for Cleveland, not to mention for the league for that matter, his legacy had a major asterisk next to it that never went away. On Thursday, Sept. 6 however he took that pain to the other side.
Ninety-Six hours ago, Arthur “Art” Bertram Modell, the former owner of the Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens franchise for 43 years passed away from natural causes at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. He was 87 years old.
Modell’s wife of 42 years Patricia Breslin passed away on Oct. 12, 2011 from pancreatitis. She had two sons from her first marriage to character actor David Orrick McDeramon (1914-1979), John and David. After getting married, Modell legally adopted John and David and they took his surname. Between the two, there is a total of six grandchildren.
Before he became owner of the Browns, Modell worked in advertising, public relations businesses and television production in New York, NY.
In 1961, Modell purchased the Browns for $4 million, with an investment of just $250,000 of his own money, borrowing $2.7 million and his founded partners covered the rest.
One of Modell’s first orders of business as the new owner is he fired legendary coach Paul Brown on Jan. 9, 1963, who helped to lead the Browns to seven league titles.
Modell then quickly named Brown’s assistant Blanton Collier as the new head coach seven days later that year.
For the first three seasons with Modell as owner, the Browns did not make the playoffs. That all changed in the 1964 seasons where they went 10-3-1 and appeared in the NFL Championship Game where they beat the Baltimore Colts 27-0 lead by legendary head coach Don Shula and Hall of Fame signal caller Johnny Unitas at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
In the 30 years that followed, the Browns would appear in seven NFL/American Football Conference (AFC) championship games, but never won another title. This is after dominating the NFL and the former All-American Football Conference winning seven titles in a 17-year span.
While he was making the Browns into a model franchise, Modell used his advertising background to make the NFL a bigger player in America. One big innovation came in 1962 where he scheduled preseason doubleheaders at Cleveland Stadium.
He became very active in NFL leadership serving as the league’s President and he used his connections in the television world to help negotiate the league’s increasingly lucrative television contracts. It is because of that innovation that we have the kind of NFL coverage that takes place on ESPN, FOX and CBS.
Modell was willing to provide the Browns as an opponent for both the first prime time Thanksgiving game in 1966 and the opening Monday Night Football broadcast in which they defeated the New York Jets 31-21.
He also used his quick wit to explain why it was importance of sharing all network television revenue on an equal basis per team so that a small market team like the Green Bay Packers to the larger market team like the New York Giants each were able to get a equal slice of the revenue by jokingly saying, “We’re 26 Socialists who hate America!”
In 1968 as chairman of the Owners Labor Committee, Modell was successful in negotiating the NFL’s first players’ collective bargaining agreement.
“Art Modell’s leadership was an important part of the NFL’s success during the league’s explosive growth during the 1960s and beyond. … Art was a visionary,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said on Thursday.
“Art Modell made extraordinary contributions to the National Football League during his decades as an NFL owner. … He was a trusted advisor to both Commissioner (Pete) Rozell and me during our time in office,” former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said.
The good will and all the respect and appreciation that Modell gained with the faithful of Cleveland all changed 16 years ago when he moved the Browns to Baltimore. He was assisted by Alfred Lerner, who would go on to become the new owner of the reactivated Cleveland Browns franchise in 1999.
The reaction to the move in Northern Ohio was hostile. Modell had promised not to move the team. He even publicly criticized the Baltimore Colts‘, now the Indianapolis Colts and he even testified in favor in court on the side of the NFL where they were unsuccessful in stopping the late great owner of the now Oakland Raiders Al Davis from moving the team from Oakland to Los Angeles. There were a number of reports circulating that Modell was quoted in stating that he would not visit Cleveland during games between the Baltimore Ravens and the Browns in fear for his life.
The case eventually went to Cuyahoga County Court where the City of Cleveland sued Modell, the Browns, Stadium Corp, the Maryland Stadium Authority and its director John A. Moag, Jr. in Case No. CV-95-297833 the City of Cleveland vs. Cleveland Browns.
The case was brought to court because the City of Cleveland believes that the Browns breached their stadium lease, which required the team to play its home games at Cleveland Stadium for several years beyond 1995.
Both sides did eventually work out a deal and the Browns franchise was deactivated for three years. Modell agreed to leave behind the Browns’ name, team colors of orange, white and brown and heritage, which includes the organizations records for a replacement team in the form of either a new team or a relocated franchise.
Modell in return was allowed to take the franchise rights, players and organization to Baltimore as the new expansion Baltimore Ravens.
The situation would eventually turn out well for the NFL as a proliferation of 12 new stadiums throughout the NFL. Through the use of the NFL-City of Cleveland agreement’s promise to supply a new team to Cleveland by 1999.
Many of NFL franchises used that threat of relocation that coerce their respective cities to build those new stadiums through the use of public funds. Some of those organizations included the Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles, Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, Detroit Lions Arizona Cardinals and Colts.
When the Browns relocated to Baltimore and named the Ravens in 1996, the team did not start well out of the gates missing the playoffs their first three years in their new city.
That all changed in 2000 when the Ravens went 12-4 and qualified for the postseason for the first time as a franchise winning the AFC Wild-Card position.
Led by a stingy defense that was anchored by All-Pro linebacker Ray Lewis, former Pro-Bowl quarterback Trent Dilfer and head coach Brian Billick, the Ravens defeated the Denver Broncos at then PSINet Stadium 21-3. They then went on to defeat the AFC Central champion Tennessee Titans 24-10 in the Divisional Playoff game. They then traveled to Oakland for the AFC Championship Game and they defeated the Raiders 16-3 to advanced to Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa Bay.
In Super Bowl XXXV vs. the New York Giants, the effective offense and the prolific defense all came together and the Ravens defeated the Giants 34-7 to win the franchises second championship.
“When you think about Art Modell, you think about a great man, a leader, a father and a servant. … When you truly see the impact he had on everyone he touched it humbles,” Lewis said in a statement on Thursday.
After owning the franchise for 44 seasons, Modell sold the Ravens to minority owner, Maryland businessman Steve Bisciotti. When he was having health problems, Modell sold controlling interest of the team to Bisciotti in 2004. Modell did retain his one percent share and remained a consultant for the team.
One very important thing that separated Modell from a lot of owners is that he was not afraid of giving unknowns a chance to rise.
On Nov. 22, 2002 he named Hall of Fame tight end Ozzie Newsome the general manager of the Ravens.
In the 10 years that Newsome has been at his position in the organization, he has become very well respected by his peers and is considered one of the very best in the NFL.
“Art was a giant in our industry. …The opportunities he gave me are historic, and I will be forever humble and grateful,” Newsome said on Thursday.
Back in 1961 Modell was a businessman that purchased the Cleveland Browns and made them into a model franchise. He then took that franchise to another city and while they have thrived in winning a Super Bowl, he never returned to Cleveland and fans there have not forgotten.
Under Modell the Browns/Ravens franchise combined to win two championships and had 18 playoff appearances.
Despite all of his great achievements both as owner of the Browns and what he did for the NFL, he will always be remembered as the man who took something from the fans in Cleveland. The same way that LeBron James will always be remembered as the man who left the Cavaliers in free agency and took the championship dreams of fans and the organization with him to the Miami Heat.
Information, quotations and statistics are courtesy of 9/6/12 5:30 p.m. of the Bottom Line sports crawl during ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption,” with Michael Wilbon and Bill Simmons; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Modell; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozzie_Newsome; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Baltimore_Ravens_seasons.
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