To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. This was as clean a pic as I could find. I tried my best to keep my feelings put aside for this. You have no idea how hard this was.
Sports will always be business. Art Modell taught me this lesson. Dollars and cents and bottom lines matter more than a city full of passionate fans. How did this situation get to this point? It is a long story, that goes way back. Up until , Cleveland Stadium was owned by the city of Cleveland. The problem was that the stadium was expensive to operate and maintain and the city of Cleveland needed help.
Art Modell offered the city of Cleveland a deal. Modell would then sublease the stadium to the two teams that played there, his own Cleveland Browns , and the Cleveland Indians. The city of Cleveland accepted the deal. Art Modell now not only owned the Browns, but he also owned the home of the Cleveland Indians, for nothing more than a dollar a year and operating costs. This deal gave Modell a lot of power in the city of Cleveland.
Modell did some good things with the stadium. He added a huge electronic scoreboard in the end zone above the Dawg Pound. He also built luxury boxes around the stadium. He added advertisements look at the above link all over the stadium.
All of these were bringing in money for Modell. Stadium Corp. If the Indians needed something in their locker room, they had to ask Modell. If they needed a new batting cage at the ball park, it was up to Modell. Modell didn't care if the Indians needed something, they weren't his team. Additions to the Indians clubhouse were minimal. It was like a scene from the movie Major League, just without a naked Cerrano. The Indians had one of the worst clubhouses in all the MLB.
The Indians believed that this was a major reason that they were unable to attract any big time free agents. For example, starting in Stadium Corp booked a mid-summer outdoor rock concert, called the World Series of Rock, to be played on the Indians home field. Modell collects a ton of money for tickets and concessions from the rock concert, and the Indians receive nothing more than a field destroyed by a rock show that was held on the infield. Yes, Stadium Corp.
Maybe they should have hired these guys. But this wasn't the biggest issue with Indian owners. Art Modell was collecting the money from the Indians luxury boxes. People were paying Modell to watch the Indians! Modell tried to explain that the luxury boxes weren't profitable because Modell financed their construction with loans that carried prevailing high interest rates, even though he never proved that this was true. In other words, Modell didn't want to share the money raised by the luxury boxes because he made a poor business decision!
How that makes any sense, only Modell knows. Modell was sitting on a golden goose. He was paying rent as the owner of the Browns to himself.
He was collecting rent on the Indians with the bonus of the luxury boxes on top. All Modell was paying was to upkeep the stadium a dump and the costs and salaries of the Browns Just to give you and idea, Joe Montana signed a 3 year 10 million dollar deal in In other words, Modell should have had money everywhere. The Indians had grown tired of Modell's penny pinching ways.
Dick Jacobs, the Indians owner since '86, and Gordon Gund, the Cavs owner, went to the city of Cleveland and asked for new stadiums. In May of the Cuyahoga County voters approved of a 15 year "sin tax" on cigarettes and alcohol That's right, if you buy a pack of smokes in the 'Hoga before , you helped pay for those two stadiums.
Cleveland's sports teams all played in outdated dumps, and the city wanted to fix this. Chema named as executive director. This groups job was to allocate money in order to build new sporting venues in the downtown Cleveland area. Games by year. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? Cleveland Browns relocation controversy. View source.
History Talk 0. A Busted Play. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 19 May, Retrieved on Unforgettable is what it's been. The Baltimore Sun. Inside the Browns Deal. The Heart Of A City.
Washington Post Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University. Once, the Stallions rode high. Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 20 May, Montreal Alouettes. Pro Football Hall of Fame. Baltimore Ravens.
Sometimes a Cleveland fan has even been married to a Pittsburgh fan, and the marriage has survived. Steelers in Week 8 by John Suchan. Next 1 of 11 Prev post. Next: Terry Bradshaw messed up the Browns more than you know. Top Stories. Steelers in Week 8. More NFL Rumors ».
0コメント