Art Modell passes away

[The Alex]

Former Browns owner Art Modell is in a Baltimore area hospital where his condition is reportedly worsening.

Family members, including his sons John and David, are gathered with the 87-year-old Modell at the hospital.

Channel 3 Sports has learned Modell's vital organs are failing.

Modell owned the Cleveland Browns from 1961 to 1995. In a controversial decision, he moved the team to Baltimore to start the 1996 season.

During Modell's tenure as team owner the Browns made the postseason 17 times, including 11 division titles and the NFL championship in 1964.

In Baltimore, Modell and the Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV.

Modell is not a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

WKYC-TV

Source: http://www.wkyc.com/news/article/259...l-hospitalized

Vital organs failing? He doesn't have long. How will he be remembered? For the Cleveland Browns debacle or for bringing football back to Baltimore?

[vidae]

Originally Posted by The Alex

Source: http://www.wkyc.com/news/article/259...l-hospitalized

Vital organs failing? He doesn't have long. How will he be remembered? For the Cleveland Browns debacle or for bringing football back to Baltimore?

Depends on who you ask I guess.

[Brodeur]

That's not Mike Brown.

[tjsunstein]

Saw this on the bottom line during SportsCenter after the game. Really sad stuff, and no one here (maybe CJ) can fully appreciate everything Modell has done.

[Rosebud]

He LeBron'd Cleveland before Lebron had even graduated from high school. And no one can ever take that away from him.

[Ness]

In a nutshell why did he move the team again? I can't remember.

[Rosebud]

Originally Posted by Ness

In a nutshell why did he move the team again? I can't remember.

[WinslowBodden]

Originally Posted by Rosebud

I'm so awesome I grew up in New York where everyone is so ******* cool and everyone has a job and the city is just so much better than anything I've ever experienced. Where the night life is a rager even on Tuesday nights and the beer flows like Capistrano.

[Rosebud]

Originally Posted by WinslowBodden

I'm so awesome I grew up in New York where everyone is so ******* cool and everyone has a job and the city is just so much better than anything I've ever experienced. Where the night life is a rager even on Tuesday nights and the beer flows like Capistrano.

Then why are you a browns fan? I grew up in Berlin and Chicago, and was smart enough not become a browns fan, how come you ended up a Browns fan growing up an equally awesome city?

[WinslowBodden]

Originally Posted by Rosebud

Then why are you a browns fan? I grew up in Berlin and Chicago, and was smart enough not become a browns fan, how come you ended up a Browns fan growing up an equally awesome city?

I GREW UP IN AVON LAKE.



LOOK AT THE BEAUTY.

LOOK AT IT.

Also I'm not gonna talk **** about Art Modell, it is what it is, RIP.

[Bulldogs]

Originally Posted by Rosebud

Then why are you a browns fan? I grew up in Berlin and Chicago, and was smart enough not become a browns fan, how come you ended up a Browns fan growing up an equally awesome city?

I have more respect for a life long Browns fan than just about anyone else. The team not doing well for the past 25 years only strengthens my appreciation of them. Being a fan isn't just about your team winning.

[WinslowBodden]

Originally Posted by Rosebud

Then why are you a browns fan? I grew up in Berlin and Chicago, and was smart enough not become a browns fan, how come you ended up a Browns fan growing up an equally awesome city?

I grew up in Cleveland and assumed you grew up in NYC because you are a Giants fan, I was making a jab at you for ripping on Cleveland relentlessly all the time but apparently that flew right over your head.

Cleveland is not nearly as ****** as people make it out to be, certain areas are obviously a **** hole but that comes with most big cities. If you grew up in Chicago good for you, http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/cri...to-exceed-2011 shows how ******* amazing Chicago is and that every part of the city is clearly a sanctuary.

There is really no reason to hate Cleveland, especially the fans of the city. I would like to hear reasons besides "LOL WHAT THE **** IS THERE TO DO IN CLEVELAND!?" and "LOL I FOUND A FUNNY VIDEO ON YOUTUBE DESCRIBING CLEVELAND TOURISM!" and "LOL YOUR SPORTS TEAMS SUCK, **** YOU!"

[WCH]

Originally Posted by Ness

In a nutshell why did he move the team again? I can't remember.

Here are the most relevant details (with the key parts in bold), from Wikipedia:

In 1973, then-Browns owner Art Modell signed a 25-year lease to operate Cleveland Stadium. Modell's newly-formed company, Stadium Corporation, assumed the expenses of operations from the city, freeing up tax dollars for other purposes. Also, Modell would pay an annual rent of $150,000 for the first five years and $200,000 afterwards to the city. In exchange, Modell would receive all revenue generated by the stadium. Stadium Corp invested in improvements, including new electronic scoreboards and luxury suites. Renting the suites and the scoreboard advertising generated substantial revenue for Stadium Corp and Modell.

However, Modell refused to share the suite revenue with the Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball team (which also played at Cleveland Stadium), even though much of the revenues were generated during baseball games as well as football games.

Eventually, the Indians prevailed upon the local governments and voters and convinced them to build them their own facility where they controlled the suite revenue. Modell, mistakenly believing that his revenues were not endangered, refused to participate in the Gateway Project that built Jacobs Field for the Indians and Gund Arena for the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers. Modell's assumptions proved incorrect, and Stadium Corp's suite revenues declined sharply when the Indians moved from the stadium to Jacobs Field in 1994.

After Modell realized how much revenue he lost from the Indians moving out of Cleveland Stadium, he requested an issue be placed on the ballot to provide $175 million in tax dollars to refurbish the outmoded and declining Cleveland Stadium.

On the field, the Browns, coached by Bill Belichick, were coming off a playoff season in which the team finished 11-5 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs entering the 1995 season. Sports Illustrated even selected the Browns to represent the AFC in Super Bowl XXX at the end of the season. However, the team disappointed many fans by losing three straight games after starting the season 3-1.

On November 6, 1995, with the team sitting at 4-5, Modell announced in a press conference at Camden Yards that he had signed a deal to relocate the Browns to Baltimore, Maryland in 1996 – a move which would return the NFL to Baltimore for the first time since the Baltimore Colts relocated to Indianapolis, Indiana after the 1983 season. The reason Modell chose to relocate to Baltimore was because he felt the city had the funding to build a first-class stadium.The very next day, on November 7, Cleveland voters overwhelmingly approved the aforementioned tax issue to remodel Cleveland Stadium.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clevela...on_controversy

On a side note, can you imagine if Belichick had been kept on as the Raven's coach? That would have shaken up recent NFL history.

[Ness]

Damn. I could see why Browns fans were ticked.

[The Alex]

More from Wikipedia:

The reaction in Cleveland was, not surprisingly, very hostile. Modell had promised numerous times never to move the team. The Brooklyn native mentioned numerous times how saddened and betrayed he and other Brooklynites had felt when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1957. He had also publicly criticized the Baltimore Colts' move to Indianapolis, and he had testified in favor of the NFL in court cases where the league unsuccessfully tried to stop Al Davis from moving the Oakland Raiders from Oakland to Los Angeles.

Yeah, I can't say I'm sad over this dude dropping. I'm not saying I want him dead but I'm not gonna be heartbroken and saddened that we lost a pioneer of the game or anything remotely close to that. Those are some real chicken**** actions on his part.

[WCH]

Originally Posted by Ness

Damn. I could see why Browns fans were ticked.

I've always figured that the hatred is justified just based on the facts that he moved the team after decades of swearing he wouldn't; then he fired Belichick, drafted Ogden and Lewis, and immediately became one of the best teams of the next fifteen years. I mean, just imagine the Cleveland Browns with Ray Lewis and Bill Belichick.

Still, you hate to hear about anybody reaching the end of the line, like he apparently is.

[Ness]

Man is Cleveland ever going to stop being the NFL's doormat?

[The Alex]

Originally Posted by Ness

Man is Cleveland ever going to stop being the sports world's doormat?

Fixed that for you.

[Razor]

Art Modell is dead.

RIP.

[CJSchneider]

Rest In Peace, Mr. Modell.

[kalbears13]

edit: because

[BuckeyeDan17]

Ive moved on. I wish comfort for his loved ones.

[Ness]

I wonder if they'll add tidbits to how Cleveland Browns fans fell since Modell died in the upcoming "A Football Life" piece about the franchise moving.

[WinslowBodden]

Originally Posted by Ness

I wonder if they'll add tidbits to how Cleveland Browns fans fell since Modell died in the upcoming "A Football Life" piece about the franchise moving.

Wait until Sunday when the drunk Browns fans start a **** modell chant or something stupid and it blows up and ends up all over the media.

[niel89]

RIP to a man of NFL History.