Ohio law: Could the man who moved the Browns to Baltimore actually help keep the team in Cleveland today?

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – A report says the Haslams are close to an agreement to buying a piece of property in Brook Park.

But could the man who moved the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore in 1996 actually help keep the team in Cleveland today?

Within months of former Browns owner Art Modell moving the team to Maryland, Ohio lawmakers made sure what happened in Cleveland doesn’t happen again, with a new law.

This Ohio law went into effect in June of 1996, and it’s also known as the Art Modell law.

What the law basically does is put relocation restrictions on owners of professional sports teams that use a tax-supported facility, like the Browns, whose stadium is owned by the city of Cleveland.

Under the law, owners are prohibited from moving their teams unless they either come to an agreement with the city or they give at least six months advance notice of their intention to move and give the city, or an individual or group of individuals who live in the area, an opportunity to buy the team.

The Art Modell law is what essentially helped keep the Columbus Crew soccer team from moving to Texas.

It was the basis of a 2018 lawsuit filed against the Crew’s owner by the city of Columbus and Governor Mike DeWine, who was the state’s attorney general at the time.

That lawsuit paused the relocation of the crew, and months later the team was sold to new owners who would keep them in Ohio.

And those new owners were none other than Jimmy and Dee Haslam, who also own the Cleveland Browns.

Moving a team to another state is different than moving to a neighboring city, but there is nothing in the Art Modell law stating it only applies to out-of-state relocation.

So if this does move forward it’s possible this could wind up in court.

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