BALTIMORE — It was a decade-plus in the waiting.
The City of Baltimore became a football town once again on March 29, 1996.
Twenty-six years ago from Tuesday, then-owner Art Modell, along with Baltimore City and County leaders announced that Baltimore had officially landed an NFL football team, taking the franchise away from the historically-rich Cleveland football team.
26 years ago today, we became the Ravens 💜 pic.twitter.com/1zwqMHM7dE
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) March 29, 2022
Modell was required to leave the Browns' history, team colors and name in Cleveland, essentially making Baltimore an expansion franchise.
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In those 26 years - having star players like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Jonathan Ogden, Rod Woodson, Terrell Suggs, Lamar Jackson, among many others - the Ravens have won two Super Bowl championships. six division titles and 13 playoff appearances.
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26 years of community giving 💜 https://t.co/zXsPkgI5m4 pic.twitter.com/NOj0NErzaJ
— Ravens Community (@RavensCommunity) March 29, 2022
Baltimore had been without a NFL franchise for 12 years, after Indianapolis announced they officially brought the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis on March 28, 1984.
In 1993, Baltimore was considered a favorite to land an NFL team ahead of the league expansion in 1995. However, those expansion spots went to Charlotte, NC and Jacksonville, Florida.
