The Case against Art "Judas" Modell Redux

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This blog entry originally was written and posted back on Jan. 9, 2011. It was my fourth-ever Joe Cleveland blog entry, and it has been one of my most read and commented on pieces. Due to the circumstances with Art Modell's candidacy with the 2013 Pro Football Hall of Fame class, I felt it was time to not only repost this, but also give it a bit of an update. So, here goes. Hope this shows how unworthy Modell is of a Hall of Fame bust.)

Among the 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which will be voted on next weekend and revealed the day before the Super Bowl, was former Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell.

Joe Cleveland was not happy to see that Modell made the final cut. It's only the second time that Modell has been a finalist. However, with his death back in September, I'm not necessarily surprised his name is on this list.

It amazes me every year that a guy like Modell can continue to garner interest in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Only once has Modell become a finalist. Thanks to the efforts of former Plain Dealer Browns writer Tony Grossi, he was passed over. But, it seems like he's always on the preliminary list for Hall of Fame consideration, and it baffles a guy like Joe Cleveland.

What exactly did Modell do that was so noteworthy? Everything I can think of was pretty negative.

First and foremost, he moved a franchise with one of the deepest NFL traditions with a rabid fanbase to a different location. The man moved the Browns to Baltimore because he was broke. Why was he broke? Because he was (and is) a poor businessman, plain and simple. People can blame the City of Cleveland for not building the Browns a new stadium when Jacobs Field and Gund Arena were built, but the fact is, Modell voluntarily took over control of Stadium Corp. from the City of Cleveland and had an iron-clad lease.

Plus, he turned down the opportunity to get in on the Gateway project, focusing on trying to remodel and refurbish his current stadium, until he saw the "palaces" being built for the Indians and the Cavs, and all the revenue it generated, along with the sweet leases their team's owners got for moving into those new facilities. Also, it didn't dawn on him until later that his biggest tenant, the Indians, would be leaving his stadium, and right when they were on the cusp of becoming a winner.

Modell mishandled the situation with Cleveland from the rip, to the point that he painted himself in a corner and felt that he had "no choice" but to move to Baltimore.

He's probably the only NFL owner to continually be in the red every single year. I could take over an NFL team and make money without even trying. Modell continually was broke. Why? He can only blame himself. Only a guy Modell could go broke by only paying $1 a year to the City of Cleveland to rent his stadium.

Moving the Browns is a bad enough sin on its own and should immediatly strike down any conversation about the man being an NFL "immortal." He's an immortal jackass, but not an immortal.

But, wait, there's more.

Secondly, he fired one of the greatest coaches in football history in Paul Brown. You don't fire a guy like Paul Brown!

Paul Brown revolutionized the game of football. He changed the way people coach the game and the way people play the game. He invented the screen pass, the draw play, the messenger guard system that paved the way for those helmet-to-helmet devices all QBs have (by the way, he invented that, too. Look it up. He put a speaker in QB George Ratterman's helmet in 1956 during a preseason game, but unfortunately, the signal kept picking up the police and cab radios so it was scrapped), coaches calling plays, scripting plays, the passing game, you name it. The man was ahead of his time, and that was why his Browns won NFL championships seven times in his first 10 years and lost in the championship game the three other times. He even got back to the NFL Championship game (1957) after a mediocre 1956 season thanks to his drafting of the great Jim Brown, but lost.

Then in 1961, Modell bought the team and decided to stick his nose into things. Brown didn't like that. Brown had supposedly lost the ear of his team, and, after a decent 1962 season, Modell fired him. Sure, the Browns recovered to win the 1964 title under Blanton Collier, but they haven't won a title since.

Modell believed that the 1964 title "vindicated" him. All it really did was prove that another guy would win with the team that Paul Brown assembled.
Collier kept the Browns' ship afloat with winning seasons from 1965-69. The Browns reached three other NFL Championship games during that span, but lost them all (and lost them all in convincing fashion). The last two of those games (1968 and 69) would have put them in Super Bowls III and IV, respectively, had they won.

Prior to the 1966 season, the great Jim Brown was off in London filming the movie "The Dirty Dozen." Filming was delayed, and Brown was needed in London while the Browns were in training camp in July and August. Modell decided that Brown needed to focus on football and not on movies, and decided to fine him $1,000 for every day that he didn't show up. When news of the fine got back to Brown, he called an impromptu press conference and announced his retirement from football, effective immediately.

Yes, Art Modell FORCED Jim Brown to retire from football in his prime. While Leroy Kelly became a Hall of Fame running back in Brown's absence, you could only imagine how Brown's presence in the backfield for either of those two NFL Championship games he missed may have helped change the outcome of those games. Perhaps the Browns don't lose in the playoffs in 1966 or 1967 if Brown was lined up in the backfield.

We'll never know because Modell decided to stick his nose into business he shouldn't have, and Jim Brown called his bluff.

Modell stubbornly refused to hire a legitimate personnel man. Whenever he did (George Hadhazy, Ernie Accorsi), the team would see immediate success. However, Modell continued overstep his bounds and wound up running these guys out of town.

Hadhazy was the architect of the 1980 "Kardiac Kids" season. He was run out of town by Modell after that season. The team subsequently slumped to 5-11 in 1981 and only made the playoffs one other time between 1981-84.

Accorsi, who was already a well-respected NFL personnel man from his days with the Baltimore Colts, was the genius behind the trade to get Bernie Kosar in the 1985 supplemental draft. Accorsi was the architect behind the Browns roster that reached the playoffs five consecutive years from 1985-89 and reached three AFC Championship games in that span. But, Modell allowed two new hires -- head coach Bill Belichick and front office person Michael Lombardi -- to push Accorsi out the door. Accorsi wound up being the architect of the New York Giants team that won the Super Bowl in 2007.

Modell, on the eve of the 1970 season, traded his Hall of Fame receiver, Paul Warfield, for the third-overall draft pick, Purdue quarterback Mike Phipps. Phipps was God-awful; Warfield went on to become a champion with the Miami Dolphins. Coincidentally, the Browns (after some decent seasons in the early 1970s) spiraled into mediocrity until a guy named Brian Sipe and a coach named Sam Rutigliano came along with a season for the ages in 1980, which only ended in heartbreak.

Modell's players constantly held out for more money because Modell had underpaid them, or broken his word on contracts. Holdouts by Frank Minnifield and Webster Slaughter helped derail the Browns' playoff successes of the late 80s as the 1990s came aboard.

Modell hired Belichick, but it was before Belichick was truly ready to become a head coach. He passed on Bill Cowher, who wound up leading the rival Steelers to immediate success. Belichick, meanwhile, alienated most of the team's fanbase with questionable in-game decisions, questionable personnel decisions and a notable feud with popular Bernie Kosar that wound up leading to Kosar's PR-disaster mid-season release in 1993.

It can also be added to Modell's "legacy" that he FIRED Belichick in February of 1996, shortly after the ink dried on the deal to move the franchise to Baltimore. Belichick wound up becoming the modern-day version of Vince Lombardi when he resussicated his coaching career with the New England Patriots. So yes, Modell fired both Paul Brown and Bill Belichick, two of the best NFL head coaches in the modern era.

If it's moves like that that make you Hall of Fame worthy, that's pretty darn scary.

Modell decided he wanted to make a big spash in free agency, so he borrowed a ton of money to sign Andre Rison. Rison was a poor fit with Belichick's team and rubbed fans the wrong way with his Diva attitude. Meanwhile, Modell couldn't pay off his loans. It was a prominant reason why Modell, as he famously said, "had no choice" but to move the team.

A modern-day NFL owner shouldn't have to borrow A DIME to sign a free agent. And yet, this is what Art Modell had to do to sign Rison. The sad part is, Modell screwed himself in the deal. After announcing the deal and bringing Rison in for the press conference, his agent discovered the Browns failed to sign some paperwork. Knowing he had Modell over a barrel, he demanded more money or else he and his client would walk away, embarassing the organization.

This is the type of businessman Art Modell was and always was.

Heck, he even tried to move his team in the 1970s ... to STRONGSVILLE! Modell purchased a plot of land that he threatned to build a new stadium on if Cleveland didn't cow-tow to his demands. In the end, it proved to be a giant bluff, and both parties came to (what they believed to be) and equally beneficial agreement on a future lease. Modell wound up taking over Cleveland Municipal Stadium for the small fee of $1 per year and was in charge of all the revenue coming in. However, he was also in charge of all the maintenance and upkeep. Nobody's fault but Modell's, who failed to see the forest for the trees.

I could go on. Modell ran off Marty Schottenheimer (his most successful coach besides Collier) by sticking his nose into football business. Modell ran off Forrest Gregg, who wound up taking the Bengals to the Super Bowl (something that was sure to stick in Modell's craw, since Paul Brown founded and ran the Bengals). Modell hung on to Sam Rutigliano too long, and his decision to move the team helped derail any momentum the football team had gained by qualifying for the playoffs in 1994 under Belichick.

And, let's not forget the shabby condition his stadium was in. It constantly needed work, and the playing surface was also terrible. It was HIS stadium because of HIS decision to take over Stadium Corp. from the city. He probably thought that controlling the stadium revenue would help him make money. He was wrong.

Now, let's dissect what people believe Modell did right.

A myth is that Modell helped create Monday Night Football. Roone Aldridge of ABC Sports created Monday Night Football. All Modell did was volunteer his team and his stadium to host the very first installment. Modell was on the committee, but it wasn't his decision or his brainchild. He wasn't against the idea, but so were other people. A Hall of Famer is not created because he "agreed" with a decision to start a Monday Night game and then lobbied for his team to host it.

Also, let the record reflect that it was Modell's decision, despite that first Monday Night Football game drew a record 85,000 fans to Cleveland Stadium, to BLACK OUT the game from local television. Modell also blacked out the 1964 NFL Championship win over the Colts, despite the game being a sellout. A man of the people who "cared" about the people of Cleveland, that's for sure.

Another myth is that Modell helped smooth over the AFL-NFL merger by volunteering the Browns to join the AFL teams in the new AFC. Modell had stubbornly rebuffed any chances to jump ship during a highly-contentious negotiation session between the two leagues but finally changed his mind along with his good friend, Art Rooney, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Modell's motives was that he felt that his Browns (which had recently won an NFL championship, mind you, and had reached back-to-back NFL Championship games in the late 1960s) would come over to the "weaker" AFC and dominate.

Unfortunately, his good friend Rooney, who jointly with Modell decided to take his Steelers to the AFC, would be the one to dominate in the 1970s after many, many years of moribund play. Also, the Colts (who were the other team to jump to the AFC) qualified for the first true NFL Super Bowl in 1970 and won. It was Modell's idea, but the others who joined him reaped the rewards while Modell ran his team into the toilet.

From 1970-1995, Modell's Browns went 194-195-3. They reached the playoffs only 10 times during that span (8 times from 1980-95) and only won four total playoff games in those 10 appearances. By the way, did I mention how many championships the Browns won during that span? That would be ZERO!

Modell helped introduce revenue sharing to the league (debatable) and helped negotiate lucritive TV deals for the league (true, but only until 1990). He was on the television committee for a lot of his early years in the league, and during that time, the NFL became the country's "national pastime" thanks to TV, to the point where the market is saturated with NFL coverage and programming.

However, the caveat with this is that NONE of that expansion happened while Modell was the head of the TV committee. In fact, he was against the billion-dollar deal Jerry Jones negotiated with the upstart FOX network and voted against it. In turn, his fellow owners removed him from the committee. With visionaries like Jones running the show, the NFL's marriage with TV exploded, to the point to where networks are paying billions of dollars for the right to broadcast the games and games are now on five different networks (two cable) and playing in prime-time three nights a week.

But, in reality, that's something that helped his fellow owners get rich and didn't really pay any true dividend to the fans, other than an oversaturation of the market. You shouldn't take a spot in a Pro Football Hall of Fame from a deserving player because you helped make your fellow owners rich because of some TV deals. That's just ridiculous.

All the Baltimore love going toward Modell is downright nauseating. I wonder if they'd still be singing his praises if they realized how instrumental Modell was in the early 1990s expansion vote that went against Baltimore and benefitted Jacksonville, Fla., and Charlotte, N.C. Modell, after telling Baltimore folks that he would be their ally in the negotiating room, went back on his word by saying what a horrible market it was and that the NFL would be better off exploring these different markets. Fact is, Modell had his eye on the Baltimore market all to himself back then. It was a totally greedy and selfish maneuver. Then again, those of us who lived through his Browns' ownership aren't surprised.

The myth that Modell voluntarily gave up the Browns' name, colors and lineage to move to Baltimore is also asinine. The NFL FORCED Modell to do this because of the threat of lawsuits and injunctions filed by the City of Cleveland and Browns season ticket holders. The entire move itself was a giant black-eye for the league, especially when Modell was such a huge critic of guys like Al Davis and Bob Irsay, who moved their franchises to different towns. He angered a lot of his fellow owners by going back on his word and moving his team when he always so outspoken against franchise relocation in the NFL.

A new nickname and uniforms would have cost Modell money, and the money Baltimore paid him to move had just helped him break even. He didn't want to spend any more than he had to. which included consultants for the nickname, color scheme, logo, mascot and uniform design. A "Name the Team" contest also cost him and his staff a lot of man hours to sift through the ideas. Besides, you think he wanted to voluntarily give up the one thing he paid for back in 1961, which was the BROWNS franchise and lineage?

The NFL forced Modell to do this as a compromise to placate Cleveland (while also promising a new franchise would begin play there in three years, something the NFL never did and hasn't done since). Modell was also forced to play money to Cleveland and their season ticket holders, buying out his silent partners Bob Gries and Al Lerner, along with paying some of his fellow owners to allow him to move. In the end, he would up right back where he started -- broke, and teetering with being out of football.

The Baltimore media and fans who, with their blinders on, believe that Modell did this out of the kindness of his heart need to lay off the Kool-Aid. This is how they legitmize the fact that, while their own franchise (the Colts) was stolen out of town by Bob Irsay, they turned around and did the exact same thing, stealing another town's franchise right out from under them. This is how those folks sleep at night while still cursing the corpse that is Bob Irsay.

I'll tell you what, Baltimore -- We'll get over what Modell did to us when you get over what Irsay did to you. That starts when you guys acknowledge the fact that they are the INDIANAPOLIS COLTS and not just "Indianapolis" on your scoreboards.

Go ahead, I'll wait. Perhaps if you guys were a better fanbase, your team would still be called "Colts" instead of "Ravens."

In the end, Modell wound up selling his team (something he stubbornly refused to do in Cleveland) to a billioniare named Steve Bisciotti. With Bisciotti as his partner, the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2000 (giving Modell his long-awaited Lombardi Trophy) while also turning most of the football operations over to Ozzie Newsome. Three years later, Bisciotti bought out Modell, leaving him a 1 percent interest in the team that was by and large an honorary thing until the day he died.

The fact that Modell did this allows him to be continually revered in Baltimore. Had he not done so and perhaps sold to an out-of-town interest (who might have moved the team), he'd be roasted over the spigot down there as he is up here. Just be glad, Baltimore, that you were spared the horror that would have been David Modell, Team Owner.

Modell begged and borrowed his way into the NFL when he bought the Browns (mostly with loans and with only $250,000 of his own money) and continued to run his team into debt (on TWO DIFFERENT OCCASIONS) until he finally found a billionaire to buy him out. He actually had a billionaire who wanted to buy him out in Cleveland in Al Lerner, but Modell refused. Ironcially, the Lerner family wound up owning the Browns, while Modell's family does not even own an NFL team anymore. And, that's what he gets.

He was a poor businessman before, during and after his tenure with Cleveland and into his tenure with Baltimore. For that, he does not deserve to be rewarded with a bust among such great legendary players and other contributors to the NFL. He deserved what he wound up getting -- to die, alone, as a martyr, and that's all he deserved.

If Modell ever sneaks his slimy way into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, even posthumously, Joe Cleveland will NEVER, EVER step foot into that building in Canton again. And, I'm sure I'm not alone in that thinking around these parts. I will be there for that induction ceremony. And, it won't be pleasent.

Here's hoping the Hall of Fame voters can overlook the sympathy factor and realize there is a lot more to Arthur Bertrum Modell than his shady maneuver to move the Browns from Cleveland to Baltimore. In fact, the more you dig deep about the guy, the more you realize just how terrible and un-Hall of Fame worthy he really and truly is.

But, that's just my opinion. Differ if you like, but remember ...

Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!