Cleveland Sports Report - Cleveland Article

Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns are four-time NFL Champions, most recently in 1964, the last professional sports title for the city of Cleveland.

The team is named for their legendary first coach, Paul Brown. Brown led the franchise to a championship in its first year in the NFL, in 1950, and two more in the same decade, in 1954 and 55. The Browns won another title
in 1964. In 1995, Art Modell, the franchise’s owner for the previous forty years, announced he was moving the team to Baltimore, Md. The NFL reluctantly agreed, but forced Modell to give up the team’s naming rights, logo and history.

After ceasing operations for three years from 1996-98, the Browns returned to the NFL in 1999 and the playoffs in 2002. Today, the franchise is led by Super Bowl Champion Mike Holmgren. BizJournal, in an unscientific study, named Browns fans the most loyal in all of sports, citing attendance numbers versus weather climate and team record. A testament to their faith, an organization for Browns fans, Browns Backers Worldwide, and its more than 100,000 members, is considered the largest sports fans organization in the United States.

The Browns franchise has the fourth most players elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Among those in the Hall of Fame are Otto Graham, Paul Brown, Jim Brown, and Ozzie Newsome. The movie The Express, which was released in 2008, told the story of Cleveland Browns running back and first African American Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis. Lou Groza, another famous Browns player, has an award at the collegiate football level named after him, given annually to the nation’s best kicker.

The Browns play eight home games a year in Cleveland Browns Stadium at the North Coast Harbor near the Great Lakes Science Center and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

For ticketing and more information, visit www.clevelandbrowns.com