Browns Sold For Over $1B
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The Cleveland Browns have been sold by Randy Lerner to Jimmy Haslam for in excess of $1 billion, league sources said.
The sale of the Browns is laid out in two parts. Haslam will take over controlling interest of the Browns for over $700 million. Then, in the second phase of the purchase, he will pay over $300 million to complete the deal.
NFL ownership is expected to approve Haslam's purchase at the October meeting. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell could expedite the process by calling a special meeting, however that is considered unlikely but not out of the question.
The NFL initially helped bring Haslam to Lerner so that the eventual sale would be completed smoothly, efficiently and with a high probability of success. Haslam had informed the NFL how much he wanted to buy a team, and Lerner -- who is more interested in his soccer team (Aston Villa in England) -- was interested in selling the Browns.
Paperwork between the two sides was completed Thursday morning.
Haslam is president and CEO of Knoxville, Tenn.-based Pilot Flying J, the largest operator of travel centers and travel plazas in North America with more than 550 retail locations. He is the older brother of Tennessee's Gov. Bill Haslam, who also worked for the family business before he was elected mayor of Knoxville in 2003 and again in 2007, then governor in 2010.
The Browns have been owned by the Lerner family since 1999, when the franchise was reborn after the original club moved to Baltimore.
Randy Lerner, 50, inherited the Browns in 2002 following the death of his father, Al.
Some fans have been unhappy with Randy Lerner, long criticizing him as a disengaged owner of a club that has made the playoffs just once since it was recreated.
Haslam has been a minority investor in the Pittsburgh Steelers and in a 2010 profile told the team's website that he had been a Dallas Cowboys and then an Indianapolis Colts fan. But with the Pittsburgh investment, Haslam said he had become "1,000 percent a Steelers fan." The Steelers, of course, are the Browns' chief rival.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8225861/randy-lerner-sells-cleveland-browns-more-1b-sources-say
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And after spending over $1,000,000,000 on the Browns, I'm sure he is now a 100 percent Browns fan.
"You planning on having a long relationship with that glass or are you going to drink it? Drink up, man. Maybe we can get another.” - Janis Joplin, 1970. -
Can't wait until Z says "no more soccer fag running this team."
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I am excited and a little anxious about this, excited because new owner seems to be a football who will be driven to win. Anxious because sometime the devil you know is better than the one you don't know. I would prefer the front office and everything remain in tact until at least the season is over but thats probably not realistic at this point. I just dread the possibility of rebuilding......again.
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>>Now I assume he'll be 100% the biggest Browns fan ever.
Just hope learning how the Rooneys run a successful NFL franchise has rubbed off on him.>>
I am very happy about this series of events.
As I said in another post PK told me Lerner never wanted to own the team and was 'living the life' (my words) before. The time of the sale was quite accelerated from what I was told, but the end-result is the same.
I see this as nothing but a extremely good thing from this dire-franchise.
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And after spending over $1,000,000,000 on the Browns, I'm sure he is now a 100 percent Browns fan.
And after spending over $1,000,000,000 on the Browns, I'm sure he is now a 100 percent Browns fan.
Well, you know what one of the Hunt Brothers (not Lamar) said: a billion dollars just ain't what it used to be..
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I am excited and a little anxious about this, excited because new owner seems to be a football who will be driven to win. Anxious because sometime the devil you know is better than the one you don't know. I would prefer the front office and everything remain in tact until at least the season is over but thats probably not realistic at this point. I just dread the possibility of rebuilding......again.
I am excited and a little anxious about this, excited because new owner seems to be a football who will be driven to win. Anxious because sometime the devil you know is better than the one you don't know. I would prefer the front office and everything remain in tact until at least the season is over but thats probably not realistic at this point. I just dread the possibility of rebuilding......again.
apparently he is a very rich football..
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I am excited and a little anxious about this, excited because new owner seems to be a football who will be driven to win. Anxious because sometime the devil you know is better than the one you don't know. I would prefer the front office and everything remain in tact until at least the season is over but thats probably not realistic at this point. I just dread the possibility of rebuilding......again.
I just dread the possibility of rebuilding......again.
since 1999 that's all we've BEEN doing.
when has any coach/FO team been given the actual 5 years of a 5 year plan?
we ARE the laughing stock of the NFL. maybe these guys can help change that. all i hoped for in this life besides peace and happiness was to see the browns win the super bowl.
and the clock keeps ticking..................
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MY first question is " WIll my season ticket price go up?" Lerner hasn't raised the price in 4 years
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The one part I don't get yet about this deal... if Haslem bought the Browns for over 1B, did he get 100% ownership, or did he pay 1B for 70%, since we have seen reports that Randy Lerner was keeping a 30% stake. Maybe that second 300M payment is to buy out Randys 30%?
So Al paid ~530M for the expansion team in 1998, and 14 years later his son sells either all of it, or 70% of the team for a billion dollars. wow
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The one part I don't get yet about this deal... if Haslem bought the Browns for over 1B, did he get 100% ownership, or did he pay 1B for 70%, since we have seen reports that Randy Lerner was keeping a 30% stake. Maybe that second 300M payment is to buy out Randys 30%?
So Al paid ~530M for the expansion team in 1998, and 14 years later his son sells either all of it, or 70% of the team for a billion dollars. wow
The one part I don't get yet about this deal... if Haslem bought the Browns for over 1B, did he get 100% ownership, or did he pay 1B for 70%, since we have seen reports that Randy Lerner was keeping a 30% stake. Maybe that second 300M payment is to buy out Randys 30%?
So Al paid ~530M for the expansion team in 1998, and 14 years later his son sells either all of it, or 70% of the team for a billion dollars. wow
ESPN said Haslem is buying the team in two parts. First he'll be paying $700 million for control of the team. The 2nd part of the deal he'll pay the rest of the $300 million for full controll. They didn't give a timeline of when it will happen though.
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The one part I don't get yet about this deal... if Haslem bought the Browns for over 1B, did he get 100% ownership, or did he pay 1B for 70%, since we have seen reports that Randy Lerner was keeping a 30% stake. Maybe that second 300M payment is to buy out Randys 30%?
So Al paid ~530M for the expansion team in 1998, and 14 years later his son sells either all of it, or 70% of the team for a billion dollars. wow
The one part I don't get yet about this deal... if Haslem bought the Browns for over 1B, did he get 100% ownership, or did he pay 1B for 70%, since we have seen reports that Randy Lerner was keeping a 30% stake. Maybe that second 300M payment is to buy out Randys 30%?
So Al paid ~530M for the expansion team in 1998, and 14 years later his son sells either all of it, or 70% of the team for a billion dollars. wow
Not to mention ALL the cash the Lerners made in those 14 years. Pretty good investment if you can get it
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Now I assume he'll be 100% the biggest Browns fan ever.
Just hope learning how the Rooneys run a successful NFL franchise has rubbed off on him.Now I assume he'll be 100% the biggest Browns fan ever.
Just hope learning how the Rooneys run a successful NFL franchise has rubbed off on him.i'm pretty sure that we would have learned very little as a Steelers minority owner. He probably attended few, if any, meetings. Besides, he had his own business to run.
One thing that he did learn is that he wanted to own a football team. Now he has one.
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i want to get excited about this, but i need some encouragement. It smells like Dolan/Indians all over again.
Jacobs bought the Indians for $35 million and sold the team to Dolan for $300 million. Now, did Dolan have $300 million laying around to buy the team? No. He had to borrow. He's been saddled with debt service on his loans while our star baseball players have left for greener pastures.
Does anyone think that Mr. Haslam has $1 billion sitting around in a mutual fund? Let's hope so.
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i want to get excited about this, but i need some encouragement. It smells like Dolan/Indians all over again.
Jacobs bought the Indians for $35 million and sold the team to Dolan for $300 million. Now, did Dolan have $300 million laying around to buy the team? No. He had to borrow. He's been saddled with debt service on his loans while our star baseball players have left for greener pastures.
Does anyone think that Mr. Haslam has $1 billion sitting around in a mutual fund? Let's hope so.
i want to get excited about this, but i need some encouragement. It smells like Dolan/Indians all over again.
Jacobs bought the Indians for $35 million and sold the team to Dolan for $300 million. Now, did Dolan have $300 million laying around to buy the team? No. He had to borrow. He's been saddled with debt service on his loans while our star baseball players have left for greener pastures.
Does anyone think that Mr. Haslam has $1 billion sitting around in a mutual fund? Let's hope so.
I'm concerned about this also. We had a big pot to pay players before. I think the pot got a lot smaller with the new owner.
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i want to get excited about this, but i need some encouragement. It smells like Dolan/Indians all over again.
Jacobs bought the Indians for $35 million and sold the team to Dolan for $300 million. Now, did Dolan have $300 million laying around to buy the team? No. He had to borrow. He's been saddled with debt service on his loans while our star baseball players have left for greener pastures.
Does anyone think that Mr. Haslam has $1 billion sitting around in a mutual fund? Let's hope so.
I'm concerned about this also. We had a big pot to pay players before. I think the pot got a lot smaller with the new owner.
I'm concerned about this also. We had a big pot to pay players before. I think the pot got a lot smaller with the new owner.
I would think that this wouldn't be as much an issue after this season as you have to use at least 89% of your cap space, which might be why Randy Lerner sold the team this year...
Which of course makes him look like a cheap bastard...not at all the moneybags everyone is giving him credit for.
http://tampabay.sbnation.com/2011/7/30/2304918/nfl-salary-cap-floor-doesnt-take-effect-until-2013
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awesome article http://www.beastfitnation.com/sources-browns-sold-for-over-1b/
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What an awful article
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