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:
“Let it suffice that in the light of these two facts, namely, that the mind is One, and that nature is its correlative, history is to be read and written.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“In front of these sinister facts, the first lesson of history is the good of evil. Good is a good doctor, but Bad is sometimes a better.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)