Browns Will Move To Baltimore Formalities Not Expected To Halt Exit Of Franchise From Cleveland

Eleven years after losing its beloved Colts, Baltimore exulted Monday in the announcement the Cleveland Browns, one of the NFL’s historic franchises, will move here to a $200 million publicly financed stadium to be built near Oriole Park at Camden Yards by 1998.

In a pep-rally atmosphere, with more than a hundred uninvited fans cheering at the site of the proposed stadium, Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening stood beside Browns owner Art Modell and delivered the long-awaited good news to this city for which the Colts were a source of civic pride and identity from 1947 to 1984.

“This is truly a proud moment in the long and rich history of this proud city of Baltimore and this state of Maryland,” Glendening said.

Possible impediments to the move to Baltimore still stand in the way. Cleveland obtained a judge’s temporary restraining order Monday to prevent the team from moving before a Nov. 20 hearing. Modell said he planned to move the franchise to Baltimore after the regular season ends in December.

NFL owners could vote to block the move with as few as seven votes, although some legal specialists say recent team transfers have chipped away at the league’s authority. League officials said they would not vote on the Browns’ proposed move before January.

“I’m not worried about the league,” Modell said Monday.

Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke, who has opposed placing a team in Baltimore, congratulated Modell and wished him luck.

At the same time, Cooke reported progress in his negotiations to build his own stadium in Maryland. In a conversation Monday before the Baltimore announcement, Cooke said Glendening gave him assurances the cost of on-site and off-site improvements in Landover, near Washington, “will be handled.”

Maryland officials said the Browns are grabbing the most lucrative NFL stadium deal in the country: a rent-free, $200 million stadium; all proceeds from parking, concessions and advertising signage; and permission to charge as much as $80 million in one-time “seat license” fees from fans wishing to buy season tickets. The Maryland Stadium Authority will receive $5 million from seat licenses.

“I had no choice” but to accept it, Modell said.

Under the plan, the Baltimore Browns would play for two years in aging Memorial Stadium, which was home to the Colts until they departed for Indianapolis. The Maryland Stadium Authority plans to spend $1 million to spruce up Memorial Stadium and add 13,000 temporary seats to its current 52,000.

The Browns would open the 1998 season in the new, 70,000-seat stadium next door to the Orioles’ Camden Yards facility. But Modell, who said he plans to live in Baltimore, said he was sad to leave his home of three decades. “I am deeply sorry from the bottom of my heart,” he told the many Cleveland reporters covering the event.

Glendening said he and Modell quietly signed an agreement aboard a parked airplane Oct. 27. Monday, Glendening said the Browns franchise will create the equivalent of about 1,400 full-time jobs in the Baltimore area, not counting the numerous construction workers needed for the 32-month stadium-building project.

Maryland residents will make a substantial contribution. Currently, $21 million from state lotteries go to the Stadium Authority.