Cleveland Browns History and Information
The Cleveland Browns are a National Football League team based in Cleveland, Ohio and play in Browns Stadium.
In some accounts there may be confusion regarding the team's history due to unusual and unprecedented actions taken following the relocation of the original team to Baltimore, Maryland following the 1995 season. In an agreement between the city of Cleveland and the National Football League, the name, colors and history of the Browns were to remain in Cleveland, while the relocated club would technically be a new league franchise, the Baltimore Ravens.
The Cleveland Browns were founded in 1946 under owner Arthur McBride. The team was to be named the Cleveland Panthers, but a semi-pro team was using that name and threatened to sue if the AAFC club used it as well. McBride then named the team after its first head coach, Paul Brown. Brown was uncomfortable with the idea of having the team named after him, stating publicly that the team was named after boxing champion Joe Louis who was known as the "Brown Bomber ".
In either event, the Browns were extremely successful in the early part of their existence, dominating the new All-America Football Conference, winning all four of its championships including with a landmark 1948 season in which they went unbeaten and untied - 24 years before the NFL's 'first' perfect team, the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
In business since 2000