Brooklyn-born Art Modell — who became the city of Cleveland’s answer to Walter O’Malley when he moved the NFL’s Browns to Baltimore in 1996 where they became the Ravens — died yesterday. He was 87.
One of the game’s most influential owners for 43 years, Modell died of natural causes at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, according to the Ravens.
Modell helped negotiate the NFL’s lucrative contracts with television networks and chaired the negotiations for the first collective bargaining agreement with the players in 1968.
A part of then commissioner Pete Rozelle’s inner circle, Modell also was behind the 1970 contract between the NFL and ABC to televise games on Monday night.
And it was Modell who helped forge the partnership between the Mara and Tisch families which has resulted in three of the Giants’ four Super Bowl championships.
“Art Modell was a visionary, a deal-maker and a friend,’’ said Steve Tisch, one of the Giants co-owners. “And he possessed a marvelous sense of humor. Our league and my father and our family benefitted from his great qualities and foresight.
“It was Art who formally introduced my father to Wellington Mara, which ultimately led to my father purchasing 50 percent of the Giants franchise. For that, and for Art’s good nature, we will always be grateful.”
But it was the move of the beloved Browns franchise from Cleveland for which Modell, who always contended he was hemorrhaging money and had no choice but to move, always will be known.
The move was also believed to be the main reason why Modell never made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was one of 15 finalists in 2001 and a semifinalist seven times between 2004 and 2011.
“Art Modell was one of the greatest owners in the history of the NFL,’’ Giants co-owner John Mara said. “He contributed in so many ways to the success of this league, and he deserves a place in Canton.
“More importantly, he was a decent man and a great friend to my family. We will miss him dearly.”
Modell dropped out of high school at age 15 and worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard cleaning out the hulls of ships to help out his financially strapped family after the death of his father.
He completed high school at night, joined the Air Force in 1943, and then enrolled in a television school after World War II. He used that education to produce one of the first regular daytime television programs before moving into the advertising business in 1954. He and some friends purchased the Browns in 1961 for $4 million.
“Art Modell’s leadership was an important part of the NFL’s success during the league’s explosive growth during the 1960s and beyond,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “Art was a visionary who understood the critical role that mass viewing of NFL games on broadcast television could play in growing the NFL.”
— Additional reporting by Paul Schwartz