As the Cleveland Browns eye a potential move to Brook Park, Ohio, the city of Cleveland is stepping in.
On Monday, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb sent a letter to the Browns, informing the franchise the city plans to invoke the “Modell Law.” First established in 1996 following the original Browns’ move to Baltimore, where they became the Ravens, the statute states the following, according to NBC affiliate WKYC:
“No owner of a professional sports team that uses a tax-supported facility for most of its home games and receives financial assistance from the state or a political subdivision thereof shall cease playing most of its home games at the facility and begin playing most of its home games elsewhere unless the owner either:
A. Enters into an agreement with the political subdivision permitting the team to play most of its home games elsewhere;
B. Gives the political subdivision in which the facility is located not less than six months’ advance notice of the owner’s intention to cease playing most of its home games at the facility and, during the six months after such notice, gives the political subdivision or any individual or group of individuals who reside in the area the opportunity to purchase the team.”
According to the city’s interpretation of the statute, that means the Browns’ current owners, the Haslam family, must make the team available for purchase to prospective buyers who would keep the franchise in the city’s limits.
“To date, the Browns have not provided the City or others with the opportunity to purchase the team, as required by law,” Bibb wrote. “And if that opportunity were provided, the City intends to take a leadership role in assembling an ‘individual or group of individuals who reside in the area’ in purchasing the team.”
Mayor Bibb’s letter comes amid a messy legal battle that has followed the Browns’ previously announced plans to move to a new state of the art stadium in the Brook Park suburb when their current lease in Cleveland expires following the 2028 NFL season.
Meanwhile, the Browns previously filed a federal lawsuit seeking to have the entire “Modell Law” declared unconstitutional.
[WKYC]
