Except that he didn’t wear the cleats when he learned that the NFL was going to fine him $25,000. I guess Johnny U wasn’t worth it.
My mistake, I meant Frank Howard. I knew it was some double-first-name that started with “Frank.”
Mostly correct, but there was actually no gap between the two versions of the Senators. From wiki:
Additionally, the Rangers also retained the rights to the “Washington Senators” name. When the Montreal Expos moved to Washington in 2005, they were interested in reviving the “Senators” name, but Rangers ownership said nope. They became the “Nationals” instead.
Is Earl Campbell a Tennessee Titan or Houston Texan?
Bearflag70, the history and records of the Houston Oilers moved to Tennesee with the team. The team now in Houston is an expansion franchise and has no history before they started.
The situation with Cleveland and Seattle is unique, as far as I know. It reflects the acrimony involved in the moves of those two teams and the modern corporate environment, where the leagues are trying not to alienate fans of historic franchises.
That’s what I thought. Thanks.
Now, I’d love to see the Titans wear old Oiler throwbacks someday. I’d also love to see Tampa Bay wear the old orange Popsicle throwbacks too.
I also believe it wasn’t decided until Cleveland was granted their ‘expansion’ team which eventually became a continuation of the Browns franchise. But in the time between, the Ravens held on to the browns historical records. At least thats how I remember it.
From what I remember, Art Modell gave up the rights to the Brown name and team history willingly. I don’t recall any lawsuit that forced him to do it, although I may be wrong. Modell wanted to stay in Cleveland and begged for years for a new stadium. The city politicians never thought he’d have the balls to move the team, but Baltimore made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. I don’t think he’s been back to Ohio since. I think the fans of Cleveland would have killed him if he didn’t leave the name, colors, logo, and history with the city. The politicians that allowed the original Browns to leave should have been impeached, especially when Cleveland went ahead and built the new stadium to get the expansion Browns. Idiots.
As for the Colts, the Irsays really hosed Baltimore. He should have left the name, but he took it with him. His right, he owned the team, but a totally dick move. The Colts were part of the fabric of Baltimore. I know for a long time there was a band called something like “The Baltimore Colts Marching Band” that existed long after the Colts left. I’m not sure if they’ve become the Ravens band or not, but I remember when the CFL expanded into the US, Baltimore’s team was the Colts, causing a trademark lawsuit from the Irsays. Not sure how that turned out. The CFL Baltimore Colts folded and the Browns/Ravens came to town so it really didn’t matter. (the CFL also has two teams named the Roughriders and Rough Riders, so they aren’t too particular about trademarks).
I think the OP’s idea of calling the Ravens the 500’s is brilliant! Too bad they didn’t think of that.
As others have mentioned, the official Colt records went to Indy with the move, but very few if any Baltimore Colts of old went along with it. Unitas and company were strongly tied to the community and out of loyalty to their fans in Baltimore never supported the move. And Irsay’s famous Mayflower Moving Van exodus from Baltimore in the middle of the night made the whole thing stranger than fiction. It wasn’t like the city didn’t support the Colts. Irsay went for the money grab.
Sometimes team names change and sometimes they don’t, but even if they do, team records usually follow the team, not stay with the city. I believe the Oakland Athletics, who were the Kansas City Athletics and before that the Philadelphia Athletics have all the records established for the franchise.
Earl Campbell’s records reside with the Titans, even though he was and always will be a Houston Oiler.
I was in Baltimore in college at the time of that snowy night.
I have not passed a Mayflower van or logo even without a sneer, and a feeling just this side of hate since then. I spent a while working down the alley from a Mayflower warehouse at Charles and 27th (IIRC) so feel free to go by there an spit on their sidewalk for me.
I left town before the Ravens arrived - I feel no attachment to them at all. But Colts uniforms, logos, even their colors still light up my brain even though I won’t watch the team. Would be an interesting fMRI experiment.
anyway, there about the OP - I don’t recall the details, but there were several years of acrimonious lawsuits that Baltimore as a City and IIRC Maryland as a State pursued in the matter. Maybe there was a settlement or a final ruling, I don’t recall, but I think the upshot of it was that Md/Baltimore would forgo their claim to the colts name and other intellectual property, in exchange the Colts would not work to block an expansion franchise or a relocation to Baltimore.
At the time, it seemed like the NFL would never expand - there was an ongoing civic debate during the period of this suit whether the City should wait, or actively pursue a relocation. The argument against the latter was that it would subject another city to the same torment Baltimore had suffered. But countering that was the “no expansion for decades, other cities arguably in line ahead - LA, Oakland, and others perhaps”.
I think, again IIRC, that the driving force behind the settlement was that the St. Louis Cardinals were seriously pondering a move. They were this close to moving to Baltimore at some point, they ended up in AZ of course. In Baltimore, their was a palpable feeling that no team and waiting was better then the Cardinals and their owner, who until this very week, has been as inept has the Irsays were.
Either as part of the settlement or soon thereafter, the NFL shortlisted both Baltimore and Oakland for expansion franchises, but before that could happen, both were able to get relocated teams.
This is probably wrong in some of the details, but the general idea is right on. Perhaps others can fill in the specifics better.
The state of Maryland only have themselves to blame for Irsay moving the Colts.
“Let’s pass a law to take away your team if you don’t play ball with us.” Who wouldn’t move out in the middle of the night to prevent that?
Modell was sued by Cleveland for breaking the stadium lease, which had a couple of years to run. As part of the settlement, which guaranteed Cleveland a replacement team (either expansion or relocate), and as a sop that cost him nothing, he agreed to leave the team name and records in Cleveland, nobody in Baltimore giving a flying fig about Otto Graham, Jim Brown or Bernie Kosar anyway. Had Cleveland obtained a relocated team (teams in Denver and Tampa Bay used the threat of moving to Cleveland to get their new ballparks) I imagine the prior team’s history would have been left in the prior city.
In baseball, the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore in the 1950s and became the Orioles. The Browns’ history, sorry as it was, was left in St. Louis to be forgotten for the most part.
Thanks for clearing up the history, zamboniracer. I didn’t remember the city suing Modell, but now that you reminded me, I seem to remember he had some time left on the stadium lease. It would make sense that they’d sue him for breaking the lease.
I don’t know the details of this, but I’d say that he should have left the name and history of the Colts in Baltimore. Of course, Irsay had no obligation to do it, but some team names are intertwined with a city. I don’t remember too many people getting into a twist about the Cardinals taking their name/history to Arizona, or the Rams taking their name/history to St. Louis. But the Colts belong in Baltimore…
And I’m a Steeler fan!