Posted on 09/06/2012 4:45:59 AM PDT by Perdogg
BALTIMORE -- Former Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell has died. He was 87.
The team said Modell died early Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he had been admitted Wednesday. A cause of death was not given.
Modell was among the most important figures in the NFL as owner of the Cleveland Browns, which became the Ravens after he took the team to Baltimore in 1996 in a move that tarnished his reputation as one of the league's most innovative and influential owners
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.go.com ...
Lifelong Browns fan here. Art did do many charitable and good things for Cleveland, but his legacy will forever be stained by the move to Baltimore in 1995. The Browns came back to Cleveland as an expansion team in 1999, but it has never been the same (at least for me).
I know his name is mud in Cleveland, but I’m grateful to him for bringing the NFL back to Baltimore (and Cleveland got another Browns teams so it’s all a wash). One of the last of the original NFL owners, along with the Maras and the Rooneys and the Browns (Cincinnati). RIP Art Modell.
It’s never been the same for me after Irsay moved the Colts and Baltimore had to go out and ‘steal’ another team. But, I have grown to love the Ravens over time. It’s like a second marriage I guess.....
Ahh No and Hell no.
Cleveland was a strong football tradition and an awesome football program then Art stole the team now we have a cheap imitation football team.
Art is scum along with Irsay!
RIP.
When Art Modell fled Cleveland, wasn’t it in the middle of the night?.......Browns fans had the sympathy of those of us in Pittsburgh. It’s never been the same, the rivalry between the two teams and the two cities.
“Art is scum along with Irsay”.
The man just died and you are calling him scum?! Keeping it classy, I see.
I get the feeling most of the REAL Browns fans are having a party and really could give a crap about Art!
I miss the real Browns, at least I had a chance of losing when I bet my Steelers against my brothers Browns.
I have a Bernie Kosar signed football as a reminder of one of my many wins.
espncleveland.com has a good article on his passing for anyone interested.
“Cleveland was a strong football tradition and an awesome football program then Art stole the team now we have a cheap imitation football team.”
Don’t go sounding like a democrat. Art owned the team and out of the kindness of his heart left you the team name and all the records. Ask a Baltimore fan how tough it is to go to the hall of fame and see John Unitas listed as an Indianapolis Colt.
When the Colts left town one of the local banks had a commercial for their ATMs. The scene was one of their ATMs late at night. The announcer said, “When you need money for an unexpected move, ...” Then a moving band pulls up at the ATM, and three guys in Colts uniforms jump out and take money out of the ATM, jump back in the moving van and leave in a hurry. It was hilarious. I have no use for Irsay.
what they want--" That is why I carry this gun... 
and these great knockers.
You got all three... 
right, Ann!
Even though the Rams beat the shit out of the Browns, that balloon almost made the day enjoyable.
I loved the Kosar - Ernest Byner - Webster Slaughter - Eric Metcalf Browns!
It's tough!
The Art Modell story I’ll remember most is the one where he single handedly kept Monday Night Football from going to Fox in the late 1980’s because he was too cheap to get cable, and Channel 19 did not come in well at his house.
“I don’t want my team’s games on that crappy station with the fuzzy signal”. And as head of the NFL Television Committee he made that happen.
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