Cleveland vs. the Browns: How ‘Modell Law’ Could Keep Team in City

The Browns’ planned move to the suburbs is quickly becoming just as contentious as Cleveland’s loss of an NFL team nearly three decades ago.

The city of Cleveland sent formal notice to the Browns on Monday that it intends to enforce the local “Modell Law” to help prevent the development of a planned $2.4 billion domed stadium and mixed-use development in Brook Park, Ohio. That 28-year-old law—colloquially named for the late former Browns owner Art Modell, who moved the original iteration of the team to Baltimore after the 1995 season to become the Ravens—states that a pro team in Ohio playing in a publicly supported stadium cannot move without giving the city in question six months’ notice and an opportunity to buy the franchise. 

Before this invocation of the Modell Law, the Browns filed a federal lawsuit against the city in October, seeking to have it ruled unconstitutional. As that legal matter continues, the city is pressing ahead to assert its rights.

“The Browns have not provided the city or others with the opportunity to purchase the team, as required by law,” Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb wrote in a letter to Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam. “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.”

The letter seeks a response by Jan. 9, and failing that, Bibb said “the city intends to take appropriate legal action.”

The 3-13 Browns, finishing another ugly season Saturday against the Ravens, said the city’s latest move further complicates what it already viewed as significant uncertainty surrounding the Modell Law. That measure is now being fully tested for the first time in its existence. 

“The statute and the city’s action create uncertainty and do not serve the interest of greater Cleveland,” the Haslam Sports Group said in a statement. “As the city knows, after the 2028 season, we will have fulfilled our lease obligations at the current stadium. We are determined to create a project to solve our long-term stadium planning by building a new enclosed [stadium] and adjacent mixed-use development, resulting in a substantial increase in premier, large-scale events and economic activity for our region.”

Even if the Browns prevail in this issue related to the Modell Law, broader concerns remain with the financing of the planned Brook Park project. A specific funding plan has not been released, but the Haslams have said they want half of the development costs covered by public money. Both Bibb and Cuyahoga County executive Chris Ronayne, however, are opposing the planned departure from the current Huntington Bank Field in downtown Cleveland.