Article Blast_Inactivity From 1996 to 1999 For Cle

Inactivity From 1996 to 1999 For Cleveland Browns

After extensive talks between the NFL, and that a new stadium would be built for a new Browns team,Cheap Mick Vick Jersey, as either an expansion team or a team moved from another city, that would begin play in 1999. Modell would in turn be granted a new franchise, the NFL's 31st, for Baltimore, the Baltimore Ravens, retaining the current contracts of players and personnel. The Browns ceased play at the end of the 1995 season when Modell relocated the organization to Baltimore. The Browns franchise was then reactivated, and its roster restocked via an expansion draft before resuming play in the 1999 season. There would be a new team, but the Browns' name, colors, history, records, awards and archives would remain in Cleveland. Coincidentally, the only other current NFL team to suspend operations without merging with another, the St. Louis Rams, had once played in Cleveland (they suspended during the 1943 season, at the height of World War II,Article Snatch_Umbro Shirts Dominate Premiership F, during their time in Cleveland). The move also fueled a proliferation of 12 new stadiums throughout the NFL,Darrelle Revis Jersey. Using the NFL-City of Cleveland agreement's promise to supply a team to Cleveland by 1999,Nike Ray Lewis Jersey, several NFL franchises used the threat of relocation to coerce their respective cities to build new stadiums with public funds. Such franchises include the Broncos, Patriots, Eagles, Seahawks, Buccaneers,Demarcus Ware Jersey, Bengals, Steelers, Lions, Cardinals, and Colts.

Cleveland NFL Football LLC (Cleveland Browns Trust) was formed by the NFL. President of the Trust was Bill Futterer, and NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was the Trustee,Jared Allen Jersey 2012. The Trust represented the NFL in the stadium design and construction, managed the sale of suites and club seats, and sold Permanent Seat Licenses and season tickets. Additionally, the Trust reorganized the Browns Backers fan clubs across the United States, resumed coaches shows on television and radio throughout the state of Ohio, and conducted a dramatic one-year countdown celebration that incorporated the first live Internet broadcast in NFL history. The Trust operated its campaign under a Countdown to '99 theme, utilizing Hall of Famers such as Lou Groza and Jim Brown extensively, and sold nearly 53,000 season tickets team record in 1998. It remains the only time in professional American football history that a league operated a team "in absentia" in order to preserve the history of the franchise and to build value in that franchise for the future owner. The NFL sold the Browns as an expansion team in 1998 for a North American record $530 million for a professional franchise, more than double any previous selling price for a pro sports team. Commissioner Tagliabue announced that the Browns would be an expansion team,Amazines_Contrast connected with Look-alike NFL Je, rather than a relocated team, at the owners meeting in March 1998,Article Biz_DishNetwork Information_516.

Officially, the National Football League, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens all recognize the current Browns team as a continuation of the team founded in 1946. The Ravens 1998 Fan and Media Guide referred to longtime staffers as having worked for "The Modell organization" before the Ravens were created in 1996,Cheap Jared Allen Jersey.