Cleveland’s law director says he is preparing for a possible lawsuit over the Browns’ planned relocation to Brook Park.
The city is basing its effort on a portion of state code known as the “Art Modell Law,” named for the team owner who took the Browns to Baltimore in 1995. City Council members and former mayor Dennis Kucinich have urged Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration to make use of the law in fighting another Browns’ departure.
The law, Ohio Revised Code Section 9.67, says that no professional team owner can leave a taxpayer-supported stadium without first signing an agreement with the host city. Or team owners must provide at least six months’ notice of their intent to leave. Within those six months, they must give the city or local investors a chance to buy the team.
“Our city ordinances require the city to enforce the Modell Law,” Law Director Mark Griffin said in a statement to Signal Cleveland. “That is what we are going to do. In order to protect our taxpayers’ investment and keep the Browns downtown, we are following the law and putting together our litigation response. ”
That doesn’t mean city lawyers are racing to the courthouse. Cleveland could be weeks away from filing a complaint in court. A mayor’s office spokesperson said city staff are compiling information and researching case law before taking next steps.
Earlier this year, council passed a measure directing Griffin to enforce the so-called Modell Law if the Browns attempted to leave. Yesterday, Kucinich – who is also running for congress – wrote a letter to the administration nudging the city to sue.
“The city’s been through this before. It’s traumatic,” Kucinich, who wrote the Modell Law in 1996, said in a phone interview. “And so I wanted to make sure we never had to go through it again. And that’s why I wrote the bill and that’s why I wrote it the way I did it, to at least give the city a fighting chance.”
Before the city’s news Tuesday evening, the Browns issued a statement from team chief operating officer David Jenkins arguing that the current situation “could not be more different” from the 1995 move to Baltimore.
“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,” he said. “The proposed Brook Park project will bring far more value to Cleveland than just the 10-12 events the current stadium attracts annually.”
Does the ‘Art Modell Law’ have teeth?
Bibb’s administration hasn’t said if he’ll take Kucinich’s advice. Whether a lawsuit would accomplish much is another question. Alan Weinstein, a professor emeritus at Cleveland State University, has his doubts.
“It sounds good, but it’s really sort of toothless,” Weinstein said.
Delaying a move by six months is of little importance when it would take years for the Browns to relocate to Brook Park, he said. Plus, he added, ownership doesn’t have to accept a purchase offer.
“You really can’t force them to do anything,” he said. “All the law really does is, you got to wait six months for somebody to offer you some other opportunity, which they remain free to say, ‘Thanks but no thanks.’”
Kucinich, however, argues there’s value in suing anyway – even if team owners were to challenge the law. The prospect of drawn-out litigation and appeals might force ownership to settle in the city’s favor, he said.
“Filing a lawsuit can tie this up for years,” Kucinich said, “because eventually you’ll have to go to the Ohio Supreme Court.”
Kucinich pointed out that his law has survived one recent challenge. Ohio and the City of Columbus cited the co-called Modell law in their 2018 lawsuit to stop the owners of the Crew, Columbus’ Major League Soccer franchise, from moving the team to Texas.
The owner, Precourt Sports Ventures, moved to have the case thrown out. But Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Brown denied the company’s motion to dismiss. Soon a new ownership group stepped in to buy the team – a group that included the Haslams.
Without divulging much, Council President Blaine Griffin said Monday night that he’d been talking with the law director about the measure. He later said a Browns move to Brook Park isn’t assured.
“I strongly don’t believe the last conversation has been had,” Griffin said.
