Art Modell Dead at 87 (1 Viewer)

[Bobcat10]

What's the word on the moment of silence? We can't be that stupid to attempt this.

Why bother? It would be the loudest moment of silence in history.

I agree. I had heard yesterday that it was in the works. My first thought was this was coming down from the league. Sounds like now we're not planning anything and hopefully the league doesn't mandate anything.

 

[Hang 10]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8348650/cleveland-browns-honor-late-owner-art-modell-opener

BEREA, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns plan to recognize late owner Art Modell at Sunday's season opener.

Modell, who died Thursday at the age of 87, remains a vilified figure here for moving the Browns to Baltimore in 1995. Browns spokesman Neal Gulkis said the team will pay "appropriate recognition" to Modell when the Browns play the Philadelphia Eagles. Gulkis said plans have not been finalized, but that the team is prepared to pay tribute to Modell, who owned the Browns from 1961-95.

Gulkis said the Browns intend to "show respect and dignity for Modell's family, the fans and community."

The team is being sensitive to both Modell's passing and its passionate fans, many of whom have not forgiven him for moving the franchise.

The NFL is asking each home team this weekend to observe a moment of silence or other appropriate gesture in memory of Modell, a league official told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Friday.

Yeah, this will go over well.

 

[Please See Mine]

Then screw you with prohibative rules that basically prevent your EXPANSION team from ever having a legitimate shot to compete.

What means this?

Hi.

 

[Bobcat10]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8348650/cleveland-browns-honor-late-owner-art-modell-openerBEREA, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns plan to recognize late owner Art Modell at Sunday's season opener.Modell, who died Thursday at the age of 87, remains a vilified figure here for moving the Browns to Baltimore in 1995. Browns spokesman Neal Gulkis said the team will pay "appropriate recognition" to Modell when the Browns play the Philadelphia Eagles. Gulkis said plans have not been finalized, but that the team is prepared to pay tribute to Modell, who owned the Browns from 1961-95.Gulkis said the Browns intend to "show respect and dignity for Modell's family, the fans and community."The team is being sensitive to both Modell's passing and its passionate fans, many of whom have not forgiven him for moving the franchise.The NFL is asking each home team this weekend to observe a moment of silence or other appropriate gesture in memory of Modell, a league official told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Friday.Yeah, this will go over well.

My question would be, if the league did not mandate this, would the Browns be showing any form of "appropriate recognition"?I hope the Browns are not dumb enough to do a moment of silence as part of this. Put something simple on the scoreboard, make a quick PA announcement, let the fans who want to boo just boo. End.

 

[MAC_32]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8348650/cleveland-browns-honor-late-owner-art-modell-opener

BEREA, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns plan to recognize late owner Art Modell at Sunday's season opener.

Modell, who died Thursday at the age of 87, remains a vilified figure here for moving the Browns to Baltimore in 1995. Browns spokesman Neal Gulkis said the team will pay "appropriate recognition" to Modell when the Browns play the Philadelphia Eagles. Gulkis said plans have not been finalized, but that the team is prepared to pay tribute to Modell, who owned the Browns from 1961-95.

Gulkis said the Browns intend to "show respect and dignity for Modell's family, the fans and community."

The team is being sensitive to both Modell's passing and its passionate fans, many of whom have not forgiven him for moving the franchise.

The NFL is asking each home team this weekend to observe a moment of silence or other appropriate gesture in memory of Modell, a league official told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Friday.

Yeah, this will go over well.

My question would be, if the league did not mandate this, would the Browns be showing any form of "appropriate recognition"?I hope the Browns are not dumb enough to do a moment of silence as part of this. Put something simple on the scoreboard, make a quick PA announcement, let the fans who want to boo just boo. End.

Reported yesterday they would not, but wasn't confirmed by Browns.

 

[Orlando RMF]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8348650/cleveland-browns-honor-late-owner-art-modell-opener

BEREA, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns plan to recognize late owner Art Modell at Sunday's season opener.

Modell, who died Thursday at the age of 87, remains a vilified figure here for moving the Browns to Baltimore in 1995. Browns spokesman Neal Gulkis said the team will pay "appropriate recognition" to Modell when the Browns play the Philadelphia Eagles. Gulkis said plans have not been finalized, but that the team is prepared to pay tribute to Modell, who owned the Browns from 1961-95.

Gulkis said the Browns intend to "show respect and dignity for Modell's family, the fans and community."

The team is being sensitive to both Modell's passing and its passionate fans, many of whom have not forgiven him for moving the franchise.

The NFL is asking each home team this weekend to observe a moment of silence or other appropriate gesture in memory of Modell, a league official told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Friday.

Yeah, this will go over well.

My question would be, if the league did not mandate this, would the Browns be showing any form of "appropriate recognition"?I hope the Browns are not dumb enough to do a moment of silence as part of this. Put something simple on the scoreboard, make a quick PA announcement, let the fans who want to boo just boo. End.

Reported yesterday they would not, but wasn't confirmed by Browns.

In the Footballguys Facebook thread on this someone wrote "Cleveland already had three years of silence". Leave it at that.

 

[Area51Inhabitant]

Did the Ravens ever honor Robert Irsay when he passed away? I know it's not exactly the same since Irsay took the Colts name to Indy while Modell chose not to keep the Browns name so that Cleveland could claim it again but still this seems very short sighted to me. The fact remains that Cleveland never stopped supporting the team no matter how bad things got on the field unlike what happened in Baltimore before "The Move". If I were a Browns fan, I would go to the can during this ceremony.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Did the Ravens ever honor Robert Irsay when he passed away? I know it's not exactly the same since Irsay took the Colts name to Indy while Modell chose not to keep the Browns name so that Cleveland could claim it again but still this seems very short sighted to me. The fact remains that Cleveland never stopped supporting the team no matter how bad things got on the field unlike what happened in Baltimore before "The Move". If I were a Browns fan, I would go to the can during this ceremony.

There are still many places around Charm City where, if someone was dumb to bring up Irsay's name, that same someone wouldn't leave in the same condition (Dundalk, Glen Burnie, Brooklyn, Arbutus, hell - even Edmonson Ave where the Wire was set). The Colts have been gone for nigh-on 30 years and Irsay is STILL the biggest villian many in the area have ever seen. We had a Governor-become-VP resign in disgrace while in office and a Governor go to Federal prison. Yet it's Irsay that still raises the most ire in these parts.If the NFL forces this moment of silence on Cleveland (or if the Browns bring it up themselves), it'll be one of the dumbest things I've ever seen.

 

[daveR]

Art Modell was never the owner of this team. He and his team left this city long ago. It's like a moment of silence for Georgia Frontierre because the Rams were once in Cleveland.

 

[CommuterMan]

I've always thought that any Hall of Fame with Al Davis as a member should have room for Art Modell...

 

[Raider Nation]

The Browns’ statement on the passing of former owner Art Modell was brief to the point of perfunctory.

Their fans might not be so kind Sunday.

While short on details of how they’re going to do so, the Browns said Friday they planned to have an appropriate recognition of Modell prior to Sunday’s game against the Eagles.

“We’re trying strike the right balance,” Browns spokesman Neal Gulkis said, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “We want to show respect and dignity for Modell’s family, the community and the fans.”

This is a tricky spot for the Browns to be in.

There’s little doubt a moment of silence wouldn’t be observed by everyone in the crowd, many of whom will never forgive Modell for moving his team to Baltimore in 1996.

That’s why the Browns have consulted with the league on how best to handle it, before deciding to do something, in hopes it doesn’t trigger an ugly or disrespectful scene.

The league didn't say how long before the game they should honor Modell.They should put his picture on the video board for ten seconds before any fans are in the stadium.

 

[Bobcat10]

Did the Ravens ever honor Robert Irsay when he passed away? I know it's not exactly the same since Irsay took the Colts name to Indy while Modell chose not to keep the Browns name so that Cleveland could claim it again but still this seems very short sighted to me. The fact remains that Cleveland never stopped supporting the team no matter how bad things got on the field unlike what happened in Baltimore before "The Move". If I were a Browns fan, I would go to the can during this ceremony.

:sigh:

 

[Raider Nation]

There was no other way:

The Browns had planned to conduct an appropriate recognition of the passing of Art Modell before Sunday’s game against the Eagles. In the end, the Browns decided that the most appropriate recognition was none at all.Team spokesman Neal Gulkis has advised PFT that the Browns will make no mention of Modell, at the request of his family.It’s the smartest way to handle the situation. A moment of silence wouldn’t have been, and any type of announcement or tribute would have been interrupted by those who would have embraced the blanket of anonymity and booed.Gulkis explained that the team had planned to make a simple announcement of condolences via the public address system. In the end, the Modell family helped the team that replaced Modell’s Browns out of a very delicate situation.

 

[hammerva]

The son of deceased former Browns owner Art Modell asked the team on Saturday not to acknowledge his father's passing at Sunday's season opener in Cleveland Browns Stadium. The phone call to Browns President Mike Holmgren defused a potentially volatile situation.

How bad does it make your city look when the son basically tells your team "yeah we know you are going to be obnoxious d-bags so don't worry about it and we will just let the rest of the NFL do it"

 

[QuizGuy66]

Naturally the very brief expression of condolences from the Browns organization and the issue of whether they'd issue a moment of silence has garnered a lot of notice. Less so has been the statement by Bengals owner Mike Brown. Mike Brown used all his law training for this one:

“Art was a significant owner in the NFL. My father had deep differences with him when they were together in Cleveland, yet on the other hand, the fact of their relationship contributed to a great rivalry between the Bengals and the old Browns. There was some real excitement to those early games. Art won praise for his work at the league level, particularly with the development of the NFL’s relationship with network television, and we extend our sympathy to all who were close to him.”

There's no part of that that says "we are saddened to hear..." for example. It's clear that Mike never forgot that Modell was the man who fired his father (and presumably broke his heart in the process) although that event ultimately resulted in his having the family fortune that he does today.

-QG

 

[Bobcat10]

The son of deceased former Browns owner Art Modell asked the team on Saturday not to acknowledge his father's passing at Sunday's season opener in Cleveland Browns Stadium. The phone call to Browns President Mike Holmgren defused a potentially volatile situation.

How bad does it make your city look when the son basically tells your team "yeah we know you are going to be obnoxious d-bags so don't worry about it and we will just let the rest of the NFL do it"

Maybe Dave knows all those "obnoxious d-bags" are right.

 

[wadegarrett]

Art Modell was offered a stadium for the Cleveland Browns and passed

Cleveland.com

September 13, 2012

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- What you think you know about Art Modell's decision to take the Browns out of Cleveland for a shiny new stadium in Baltimore is legend.

Today, the consciences of a couple of old-guard Cleveland politicians give us a long-hidden fact about Modell's departure. Specifically, when Modell claimed he would have stayed if city leaders had offered to build him a stadium, he was lying.

He was offered a new stadium.

At the Gateway sports complex.

He rejected the offer, years before leaving.

Since the former Browns and Ravens team owner died last week, we have rehashed the famous narrative that Modell left town out of frustration with political leaders who stuck him with the dumpy, history-rich Cleveland Municipal Stadium, which lacked the revenue-generating luxury suites and other amenities of newer stadiums.

Modell was particularly upset that leaders here bent over backward for **** Jacobs and Gordon Gund, the former owners of the Indians and the Cavaliers, respectively, who were getting new homes -- courtesy of the taxpayers, at the Gateway sports complex completed in 1994 just north of the Inner Belt downtown.

The story of the stadium snub for years has left us asking: Why didn't city leaders just offer to build Modell a new stadium along with the others?

After leaving town in 1996, Modell reinforced the snub story in interviews with news outlets, though he was not speaking at the time to The Plain Dealer, which he saw as part of the conspiracy against him.

"My major regret is that I should not have acceded to their request to stay on the side on Gateway," Modell told Cleveland Magazine in August 1996. He told the magazine he should have forced a football stadium into the Gateway conversation.

"I should have made my demands known at that time. Then we wouldn't be here now. . . . Had they even mumbled the word 'new stadium' I would have said, 'Let's talk.' "

It turns out that officials at the time tried to talk with him. Modell wouldn't listen.

George Forbes, who was Cleveland's council president during the late 1980s and a key player in negotiations with team owners during planning for Gateway, said he and others asked Modell to be a part of the project.

Forbes said leaders proposed building a third Gateway sports facility for the Browns, just south of the Inner Belt a couple of blocks from what is now Progressive Field.

Forbes' memory for detail is hazy. But he said then-Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim Hagan, Jacobs and lawyers familiar with the financing options were present with Modell at a meeting when the offer was made.

"Tim and I were saying, 'While we are doing this, we might as well clear up the whole damn thing and build all three stadiums,' " Forbes told me. "This way we don't have to go back, and future councilmen and commissioners won't have to deal with the issue. Let's clear it up once and for all, was our thinking."

Jacobs died in 2009.

Forbes said he remained quiet for decades out of respect for Modell, whom he considered a friend.

"Art was my friend and a good man, and I didn't want to get into it," Forbes said. "I didn't want to pour hot water on a scalding dog."

But Forbes said he's long been bothered by the narrative that government failed Modell.

"I have thought about this meeting every time it was written or televised that no one made an offer to build a stadium," he said. "My words are to set the record straight about the governmental institutions and our involvement."

I called Hagan, who championed the Gateway complex and suffered great criticism about its cost to taxpayers. He confirmed Forbes' account. He described the offer as informal but honest.

"There is no question we made an effort," Hagan said.

Exactly why Modell didn't pursue the discussion remains a mystery.

Forbes recalled that Modell said he just wanted to stay in Municipal Stadium. Hagan couldn't add much more detail, nor would he speculate on why Modell didn't look harder at Gateway.

The timing of the Forbes and Hagan offer is critical to sorting out the legend. When Gateway planning was just starting, Modell was told to stay away. City leaders were concerned about appeasing Jacobs, who did not want to share a stadium with the football team and was threatening to move the Indians to a new city.

David Hopcraft, a longtime spokesman for Modell, said leaders planning Gateway were adamant that the Browns owner wait.

"They told him they would take care of him later," Hopcraft told me. Hopcraft also noted that Modell was one of the biggest contributors to the public campaign to persuade taxpayers to support the tax on alcohol and tobacco that paid for Gateway.

But Forbes said that after Jacobs was satisfied with plans for the new baseball stadium, the time was ripe to bring Modell into Gateway. So Forbes and Hagan made their offer.

Years later, politicians had cooled to the idea to asking taxpayers for more money for a football stadium. Modell no doubt became frustrated by his failure to win political backing for refurbishing Municipal Stadium.

Hagan famously quipped in 1995 about a proposed tax for Municipal Stadium: "We all wish Mother Teresa owned the Browns. It'd be an easier sell."

But timing is everything. And there was a time, long before Modell abandoned Cleveland, when he was offered a new stadium.

Whether or not a Gateway deal could have been struck with Modell -- and ultimately sold to voters -- is immaterial. That leaders offered Modell his own stadium at Gateway changes the storyline that has been central to his excuse for leaving. This fundamentally changes our view of one of the biggest moments in the history of this town.

Maybe Forbes and Hagan were wise to keep the Gateway offer quiet all these years. Modell already was viewed by many as the worst villain Cleveland ever saw. And knowing that Modell was offered a stadium deal and still left would have only further damaged our psyche at the very time the city's football fans needed to move on.

I know the latest revelation may revive some fans' anger toward Modell, but I'm glad the record is clear, so we can move on.

We need to focus on the team's history on the field, not off.

Hopefully, this history won't be as painful.