I'm hoping this weekend Art Modell doesn't get elected into the Hall of Fame. If he does, it will be a dark day for Canton. He has done some good things for the NFL in the 60s, but what he did to Cleveland and it's fans, the villain does not deserve to be in the Hall.
Agree?
"Playoffs? Don't talk about playoffs. Are you kidding me? Playoffs? I'm just hoping we can win a game, another game." - Jim Mora
I might be the only man in America who feels this way, but I think Art Modell isn't such a bad guy. Now before I get flamed, let me say why:
Cleveland built Jacobs Field, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and I believe (although not 100% sure) the Gund Arena for the Cavaliers. All that time Modell waited, thinking his stadium was next. Instead he got shafted as the city decided the Browns didn't need a stadium.
Anyone who has seen one game at the Mistake by the Lake knows it was a shithouse and should have been replaced years ago. Modell tells the city he can't survive without a new stadium and they still don't care. So Modell follows through with the threat and moves to a city who's been DYING for a franchise. Next thing you know, Cleveland is building a stadium.
Now if Cleveland had stuck to its guns and did not approve funding for a new stadium I'd have no argument. But they didn't. Why didn't they do this ten years ago? So instead of Modell getting 100% of the blame, lets give the city of Cleveland their fair share too.
yeah i kinda feel like cleveland ran him out by sticking to their guns then turning around and building a new stadium after he is gone.... if a city doesn't need that new stadium why waste the tax dollars?
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I was under the impression that they had asked him to just sit tight and wait a bit, and that it would get done, just not overnight.
My father is a lifetime Browns fan who hates Modell for reasons besides moving the team, many of which I have heard over and over and over again when the subject comes up. Of course, that's no reason to keep him from the hall. I question what he has done tho.
What makes Modell so special, besides having the money to buy the team in the first place? I honestly don't know. If they're going to give it to him just because he's been around so long, oh well. I just question what he contributed to the game that no one elese did or could have done.
i have no sympathy for cleveland nor their fans because i was heartbroken when my beloved colts bolted for indy...
but now there are great rivalies when the ravens beat, er i mean play the browns or colts...
BTW, does any trivia buff know when the last baltimore colt retired from the indy team, and if there are any browns left on the ravens squad? or if any oilers are left with the titans?
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you make a good point about the stadium issue. I was wondering myself a few years ago when the city of Cleveland was building a new stadium for the new Browns. Still, I don't like what Art Modell did though.
"Playoffs? Don't talk about playoffs. Are you kidding me? Playoffs? I'm just hoping we can win a game, another game." - Jim Mora
No. No. A thousand times no. Sell the team if you're pissed at the city. Don't drag it somewhere else (this means you, too, Irsay, Davis, and McCombs).
But doesn't solve anything. Any new ownership would have demanded a new stadium because the old one was collapsing. No one would pay all that money for a franchise without guarantee they could make money off of the stadium. Cleveland only received an expansion team because they said they would build a stadium.
How could Cleveland justify building two stadiums AND a rock and roll hall of fame, and then break the promise they had with Modell?
Irsay was a prick for moving the Colts in the middle of the night. Modell at least gave Cleveland a year notice.
when in Cleveland, he was losing money on an 80k-seat stadium that sells out for every single game (and for a long time). He actually lost $21 million the last two seasons in Cleveland. True, the stadium was old and shit, but if it sells out, I find losing $21 million mind boggling.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think he was losing money when he moved to B-More as well. Losing money on a new state of the art stadium. He had to flunk economics to be losing all this money. And I remember the NFL gave him an loan a few years ago. Art, if you can't manage a NFL team, get out. At least he is soon.
"Playoffs? Don't talk about playoffs. Are you kidding me? Playoffs? I'm just hoping we can win a game, another game." - Jim Mora
And Art "Money" Modell was one of the owners screaming loudest about not cutting the season to 15 games after 9/11 because he would have lost out on a home game revenue.
The man was just not cut out to be an owner. I think Ozzie Newsome won that SuperBowl for him, as far as front office moves go.
Stadiums don't make owners money unless they have luxury boxes and receive all the money from parking. Modell had neither of those in Cleveland. In Baltimore he was taking a hit originally because he was fronting all his money. My argument isn't that he is completely innocent in all of this. My argument is why did Cleveland break their promise to build him a new stadium, only to turn around and build that stadium after he left? Remember, Modell was a beloved owner up until the move. A move he was forced to make by the city of Cleveland.
The only NFL owner I know of who is involved in player personnel is Jerry Jones, and that isn't working out too well. Modell does what every good owner should do, pay the contracts and leave the decisions to the guys he hired.
Well, what he did to Cleveland was absolutely horrific, no doubt. But, he worked arm-in-arm with Rozelle to help create a lot of what the NFL is today... pushing forward the merger, helping negotiate the original Monday Night tv deal, having a part of revenue sharing in its infancy. I also believe he was the first of the NFL owners to switch conferences post-merger. Overall, I think you'd have to eventually vote him in. Just let him stew a while, for fun.
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