The city of Cleveland plans to invoke “The Modell Law” to prevent the Browns from leaving downtown to play in a domed stadium the Browns plan to build in Brook Park with the goal of playing there starting with the 2029 season. Former Browns owner Art Modell moved the Browns from Cleveland to Baltimore in 1996. In February of that year, the NFL promised Cleveland a new team to begin play in 1999. At that time, the league hadn’t decided whether the new version of the Browns would be an expansion team or a team relocated from another city. Eventually, the league decided Cleveland would get an expansion team. Ohio and Cleveland officials crafted a law to make sure another owner could not do what Modell did. The law reads: “No owner of a professional sports team that uses a tax-supported facility for most of its home games and receives financial assistance from the state or a political subdivision thereof shall cease playing most of its home games at the facility and begin playing most of its home games elsewhere unless the owner either: (A) Enters into an agreement with the political subdivision permitting the team to play most of its home games elsewhere; (B) Gives the political subdivision in which the facility is located not less than six months’ advance notice of the owner’s intention to cease playing most of its home games at the facility and, during the six months after such notice, gives the political subdivision or any individual or group of individuals who reside in the area the opportunity to purchase the team.” The Haslam Sports Group, which owns the Browns, announced Oct. 17 that the Browns would be moving to a $2.4 billion domed stadium and complex on a 176-acre site in Brook Park, 12 miles south of Cleveland. The announcement came as no surprise; the Browns have concluded refurbishing Huntington Bank Field, which opened as Cleveland Browns Stadium, is not feasible over the long term. The Browns’ lease expires after the 2028 season. “We’re going to move forward because that’s the law,” Cleveland Law Director Mark Griffin told WKYC. “We’re going to move forward because that is what the Cleveland city ordinances require us to do.” The city of Cleveland is contending Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, referring to the (B) section of the law cited above, must entertain offers from investors willing to buy the Browns to keep them downtown. However, the law does not mandate the current owner of a team must sell, nor does it stipulate what the fair market value of a team would be. The former owner of the Columbus Crew, a Major League Soccer team, tried to move his team to Austin, Texas, in 2018. State officials used “the Modell Law” to prevent him from moving. The Haslam Sports Group bought the Crew and kept them in Columbus. The previous Crew owner, Anthony Precourt, was awarded an expansion team in Austin in 2019. The expansion fee was $150 million. “Obviously, we have a clear understanding of the situation that resulted in the original creation of the Modell Law, and our current stadium efforts and desire to make a transformative investment in Greater Cleveland and the entire Northeast Ohio region could not be more different,” the Haslam Sports Group said in a statement. “Our dome stadium and ancillary development focus in Brook Park is the optimal solution for our fans and the region not only because it will bring more large-scale events and economic activity, but also because it will open up the lakefront for more impactful development. “The proposed Brook Park project will bring far more value to Cleveland than just the 10-12 events the current stadium attracts annually. This long-term stadium solution is about strengthening Greater Cleveland and Northeast Ohio by creating more growth opportunities for our region. Our commitment to Cleveland will not change and our off-the-field work throughout Northeast Ohio will continue. We are not moving out of Northeast Ohio and while more work remains to make the Brook Park vision a reality, we look forward to continuing to make progress on this exciting opportunity with our public partners and other stakeholders.” “The Haslams’ choice to move the team away from (Cleveland) is frustrating and profoundly disheartening,” Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb said at a news conference last week.