Cleveland Gets New Browns In ‘99 Season

The NFL and the city of Cleveland agreed Thursday night on terms that will allow Art Modell to move his franchise to Baltimore, but allow Cleveland to keep the name “Browns” and the team’s traditional colors.

Owners will vote Friday to ratify the agreement, which also provides up to $48 million to the city to build a new stadium for a new team.

“There are a few teams in this country that are special - the Green Bay Packers, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Chicago Bears and the Cleveland Browns,” said Cleveland mayor Michael White, who announced the agreement. “We get to keep the Cleveland Browns.”

They will not, however, get a team until the 1999 season, when a new 72,000-seat stadium is built on the site of Cleveland Stadium and either an expansion team or existing franchise moves in.

White said the stadium will be paid for as follows: $175 million, mostly from a local tax increase passed last November; and $28 million to $48 million from the NFL.

White said the league payment was “not a loan,” but NFL spokesman Joe Browne said the league would be repaid by the team that moves into the city.

John Moag, chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority, also said he was pleased. Asked about the concept of reimbursing Cleveland for its loss, he replied, “I wish that policy had been around a dozen years ago.” That was when the Colts left Baltimore for Indianapolis.

The agreement was reached in talks involving two NFL committees containing 12 owners. Browne said all 12 had agreed, meaning 11 more votes are needed when the proposition goes before all 30 teams.

Approval of the Browns’ move comes three days before a trial scheduled to begin in Cleveland on a suit the city filed against Modell seeking to keep the team in town.

White said the city would drop the suit if the owners give the agreement final approval.

In addition to the payment for the stadium, the league agreed to pay Cleveland’s cost in the court battle and $9.3 million in damages from Modell.

Approval is likely with the agreement because Cleveland says it is satisfied and in part because the league believed there was no way it could stop the move in court.