History
Cleveland Browns Stadium sits on the former site of Cleveland Municipal Stadium, which was the team's home for 49 years. Ironically, Browns owner Art Modell moved the franchise to Baltimore (and ultimately became the Baltimore Ravens) because he said the city would not refurbish Cleveland Municipal Stadium, which caused the city to build the new stadium. As part of the deal with the National Football League to reactivate the Browns, the city of Cleveland tore down Cleveland Stadium after the 1996 season to make room for the new facility. Debris from the former stadium was submerged in Lake Erie and now serves as an artificial reef.
Ground was broken on May 15, 1997, the stadium opened in July 1999. The first Browns game at the stadium was played on September 12, 1999, a 43-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
As of the 2011-12 season, if Super Bowls are included, Cleveland Browns Stadium is only current NFL venue that has yet to host a playoff game. The Detroit Lions have never hosted a playoff game at Ford Field, but the stadium served as the host of Super Bowl XL.
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Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Tell me of the height of the mountains of the moon, or of the diameter of space, and I may believe you, but of the secret history of the Almighty, and I shall pronounce thee mad.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There is nothing truer than myth: history, in its attempt to “realize” myth, distorts it, stops halfway; when history claims to have “succeeded” this is nothing but humbug and mystification. Everything we dream is “realizable.” Reality does not have to be: it is simply what it is.”
—Eugène Ionesco (b. 1912)
“History is the present. That’s why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth.”
—E.L. (Edgar Lawrence)