However, the decision triggered a flurry of legal activity that ended when representatives of Cleveland and the NFL reached a settlement on February 8, 1996. ![]() Initially, the team was to be known as the "Baltimore Browns." The plan was for the "Baltimore Browns" to play at Memorial Stadium until a new stadium could be built. On November 6, 1995, Modell announced his intention to move the team to Baltimore, citing the inadequacy of Cleveland Stadium and the lack of a sufficient replacement along with his heavy debt. In response to outrage in Baltimore, including then-governor William Donald Schaefer's threat to announce over the loudspeakers Tagliabue's exact location in Camden Yards any time he attended a Baltimore Orioles game, Tagliabue remarked, "Maybe (Baltimore) can open another museum with that money." Having failed to obtain a franchise via the expansion, the city, despite having "misgivings," turned to the possibility of obtaining an existing franchise, namely the Cleveland Browns, whose then-owner Art Modell was financially struggling and at odds with the city of Cleveland over needed improvements to the team's stadium. In the 1995, the NFL Expansion Draft saw the creation of the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars franchises were given granted to smaller TV markets in Charlotte, North Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida respectively. However, to make way for Jack Kent Cooke's ultimately unsuccessful plan to move the Washington Redskins to Laurel, Maryland, then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue convinced the league's team owners to pass over Baltimore. ![]() See also: Cleveland Browns § Bill Belichick and Modell's move (1991–95)Īhead of the 1995 league expansion, eleven years after the Colts' controversial move to Indianapolis, the city of Baltimore expected to be granted an NFL franchise and put together its most attractive financial package.
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