Before it’s the Cleveland Browns vs. the World, we’ll cover Cleveland vs. the Browns.
The city sued the team over Cleveland’s proposed move to a domed stadium in Brook Park. The lawsuit stems from the Modell Act, which was enacted after the late Art Modell moved the Browns to Baltimore in 1996.
“The model law is clear: if you use taxpayer money to finance your stadium, you have obligations to the community it made this investment possible,” Cleveland Law Director Mark Griffin said in a statement, via Adam Ferrise of Cleveland Plain Dealership.
Cleveland filed the complaint in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. As explained previouslythis is the intelligent game; State court judges are accountable for their decisions at the ballot box.
This is also why the Browns have already filed a lawsuit seeking clarification of the Model Law in federal court. And the first fight in the new lawsuit will be whether the team’s first lawsuit will take precedence over the city’s civil action. The outcome of both cases could depend on it.
The model law, as written, requires the Browns to give six months’ notice before leaving Cleveland. The goal is to give Cleveland residents a chance to buy the team and keep it in town. Cleveland claims the Browns violated the Model Law by failing to provide notice or a chance to find a new buyer.
“The Haslam Group’s circumvention of these requirements not only undermines the trust of Cleveland residents, but also violates a law designed to protect all Ohioans,” Griffin said.
Especially Ohioans living in Cleveland.
Even if the team’s owners, Jimmy and Dee Haslam, can achieve a victory in court, they purchased the team knowing of the existence and requirements of the Model Law. The fact that they are even accused of violating it shows that they mishandled the situation, both in terms of public relations and inability to work with local authorities (and local residents) who remain very sensitive to events which led to the relocation and then disappearance of the local team for three years.
Regardless of how things got to this point, the situation resulted in two different legal proceedings. With one more, the number of trials will equal the team’s number of wins in 2024.
