COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE AND JERRY RICHARDSON PRESS CONFERENCE 3/23/98

 Obviously I am very pleased about the extension, I think we have a phenomenal league, a phenomenal sport and a phenomenal group of players, great sports product and outstanding owners. We have been doing a lot of things extremely well in the last couple of years and I am very pleased to have the vote of confidence this represents. I think this speaks well not just of our game but of our staff and ownership and hundreds if not thousands of people who make the job that I have possible. Without the teams, the teams staff, without our league staff, without our league organization staff, we would not have the kind of league we have so I thank you very much.

 We are very pleased to announce that our membership agreed unanimously today that the new Cleveland Browns will be an expansion team, the league’s 31^st franchise. We will proceed immediately to begin taking the steps that have to be taken to make that a reality including further work on screening process to select the owner. We are also putting in place today the player personnel function. We have hired a former top personnel executive with the Carolina Panthers and Washington Redskins, Joe Mack who was involved with expansion planning for the Panthers to head up the player personnel for the new Cleveland Browns team. Jerry Richardson, chairman of the Stadium Committee was directly involved in leading the discussion today and I would like Jerry to add a few comments from his perspective.

Jerry: When Paul and I visited Cleveland last week two things that clearly came home to us was how strongly Cleveland felt about an expansion franchise for and a decision sooner rather than later. We had a lengthy discussion today and there was incredible enthusiasm for the announcement Paul just announced and I can tell you having been through this process the young men that you have working with you, in addition to George Young, Joe Mack in the personnel area. I am real excited an enthusiastic about the progress that is going to be made in Cleveland, I am thrilled about it.

Commissioner: Before I left the meeting room I was able to reach Mayor White on the phone to give him this good news and his comment was that it was indeed good news and that it underscores once again the partnership between the NFL, Cleveland, Ohio and the fans of the Cleveland Browns.

When do expect to set the price of the franchise?

In the next several months ahead.

What is the next process for choosing the owners?

We will be getting on that probably this week or next week. We are going to be getting starting interviewing candidates and receiving applications and taking the normal steps in that type of selection process. The goal will be to have an outstanding owner, a first class person.

Did you set any parameters as far as how many draft picks will be given to the Browns?

No, we did not get into those kinds of specifics.

Did your trip to Cleveland convince you and Mr. Richardson that it was time to do this?

Well it was partly what we saw in Cleveland with the stadium becoming a reality and partly our conversations with the mayor, our understanding of how the fans feel and their desire to support

Their team. Bit it was really something that we were hoping to accomplish for a number of months. As I have said many times, if we could get a number of things in place this would be our goal and the goal is now a reality.

When do you anticipate setting the expansion team?

Again, in the next several months.

What prompted the decision?

I have been trying to tell you folks for days, when we get into our meetings and we have our discussions, we can reach a consensus. As I said earlier today to a few of you, until everyone has had a chance to speak and be heard we haven’t carried forward our processes and today that happened and the consensus was very clearly there.

How would you characterize the interest for the Cleveland franchise?

I expect it to be very strong interest.

Would the Browns records be the Ravens history?

No. Everything that has been the Cleveland Brown franchise is in Cleveland and it will be reactivated next year. It’s been in place through the Cleveland Browns Trust even in the most recent several years.

The Ravens history began just a couple of years ago?

The Ravens history began very close in time to when history of the Carolina Panthers began and the Jacksonville Jaguars and I’m sure they are going to be moving ahead and creating a great history which you can do fairly quickly if you can create a connection with your fans a passionate one which there will be for the Ravens in Baltimore as there is for the Panthers in the Carolina’s region and they will have a great history.

When will the league decide what division the Browns will be playing in?

That is part of our agreement with the city. The Browns will be in the AFC Central.

When is their first game?

The first preseason game will be against the Dallas Cowboys in Canton at the Hall of Fame next year.

Will George Young or Joe Mack be making more hiring?

We are expecting that to be the case, yes it’s something that we have under discussion now. There will be a department, not just an individual.

Are there any time periods for a 32^nd franchise?

We are going to resume our discussions in the morning and we will report to you tomorrow in terms of Los Angeles, Houston, Toronto and those cities that are interested in that 32^nd team.

So you do not see a time frame at this point?

It would be premature for me to say one way or another but we will be discussing that tomorrow.

Will there be any circumstances where the league will be operating the Browns franchise at all?

No. I don’t foresee that circumstance.

Are those cities vying for the last expansion team?

It depends on whose lifetime you are talking about.

Will the new franchise get half the TV revenue for its first three years or will they get a full share?

Current expectation is that they would receive a full share of TV.

Did the discussion go smoother than expected?

None of our discussions ever go smoothly. No, I think the thing was Jerry made a very strong statement from his perspective both as the chairman of the stadium committee and as one of the two most recent teams. A number of other owners made very strong statements in support of expansion and a decision today including Art Modell and once people heard the sentiment from those such as Jerry who spent a lot of time looking at the situation there was a very strong consensus.

Jerry: On the pricing of the franchise, I don’t think it will be that complicated, personally. It will be a function of, I am an owner of this, going to have a vote on this and I know what we paid and I think the value of the franchise has increased with the new TV revenue and the fact that Cleveland Browns have a 50 year history with the NFL and has some challenges we did not have. It is a function of having to come up with a fair price for the franchise and I really don’t think it will be that difficult.

Jerry: Well I think the big thing that Cleveland is going to have going for them is when we came in there were two teams and regardless of what the system is, the player allocation pool, free agency, or just draft picks or additional draft picks will clearly be an advantage for the new Cleveland team we did not have because Jacksonville and I were competing for the same kind of people, the same kind of players. I think it will be much more favorable for Cleveland.

Jerry: We have not gotten into to any of that.

Jerry: I think that will have to come up with that in the next couple of months. I don’t think that it will be that difficult personally. We have to talk it through.

Commissioner: Yes that has been agreed to by the players association.

Jerry: That was a part of the agreement.