7 most devastating franchise moves in American sports history
It isn't just that Baltimore Colts owner Robert Irsay moved the team to Indianapolis; it's that Robert Irsay moved the team to Indianapolis in the middle of the night. The stunning move -- pushed forward by a Maryland Senate bill that would allow the city of Baltimore to take over the te...
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| Published in | Gannett News Service |
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| Main Author | |
| Format | Newsletter |
| Language | English |
| Published |
McLean
USA Today, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, Inc
13.01.2016
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| Online Access | Get full text |
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| Summary: | It isn't just that Baltimore Colts owner Robert Irsay moved the team to Indianapolis; it's that Robert Irsay moved the team to Indianapolis in the middle of the night. The stunning move -- pushed forward by a Maryland Senate bill that would allow the city of Baltimore to take over the team by eminent domain -- saw Irsay pack up the team and move it to Baltimore, with each truck taking a different route to get there. Movies have been made about the whole episode, and whether you side with the Maryland state government or Irsay, the innocents in all this were the Baltimore Colts fans, who were left bewildered by the loss of their beloved football team overnight. Yes, Cleveland got the Browns back just three years after they lost the franchise to Baltimore, but that doesn't change the shock and hurt Browns fans went through when owner Art Modell decided to move the team in 1995, and then stuck by that decision even after the city of Cleveland approved $175 million in stadium renovations. Browns fans set fires in the stadium when the team left, and while we all know that Cleveland fans deal with their grief by setting fire to things (ahem, LeBron jerseys), it was still a devastating decision and the removal of one of the NFL's proudest franchises. The team, by the way, hasn't been the same since. |
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