The tussle between the Cleveland Browns and the City of Cleveland continues as the NFL team makes a renewed push for federal intervention in their suit against the Modell Law. News 5 Cleveland reports that the Browns are once again asking a federal judge to declare the Modell Law unconstitutional, hoping for a resolution allowing them to relocate from Downtown Cleveland without local legislative handcuffs.
This isn't their first rodeo, the Browns have been butting heads with municipal powers over this legislation for some time now. The Modell Law creates a substantial hurdle for professional sports teams that want to leave taxpayer-funded stadiums. Basically, it wants them to stick around or give the city a shot at finding a new owner. According to the FOX8, the Browns have desired to move to a dome in Brook Park, far from the madding crowd of completely understandable local and state oversight.
The Browns' filings are quite direct on the legal playbook: they want "a concrete, binding declaration that the Modell Law is unconstitutional, invalid and unenforceable under federal law," according to FOX8 News, as lawyers for the team penned it. The City of Cleveland has its defensive strategy, looking to punt the case from federal courts back to a Cuyahoga County Court that would presumably be more sympathetic to the local law.
Of course, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost couldn't sit this one out. Yost filed a motion backing the city, giving the legal equivalent of a sideline coach's advice that "unanswered questions of Ohio law must be answered before this court can reach Plaintiff’s federal constitutional claims." This is according to the FOX8, which also indicates that Browns are eager to bypass local courts with the federal court's decisiveness. Their latest move was to file two motions opposing the city and state's attempts to keep the lawsuit from escaping beyond the Ohio borders.
While this titanic clash of wills plays out, fans and taxpayers are left awaiting a verdict that will shape the future of professional sports in Cleveland. It's more trench warfare in the courts than a swift field run to the end goal. Whichever court hears the case last, the Browns continue to push for the liberty to decide their home field, challenging the legal tackles designed to keep them in place. And for now, the saga rolls on, with the endgame as unpredictable as a Hail Mary pass in the final seconds of a gridiron showdown.
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