McDonald's Restaurants of Northeast Ohio, which represents
the owners and operators of 257 area McDonald's restaurants, has
asked Browns Owner Art Modell to remove all McDonald's signs from
Cleveland Stadium. The company is also airing an open letter of
protest on 55 local radio stations. Spokesperson William Stern
said a petition will be posted in all of the group's restaurants
asking the league to leave the name "Browns" in Cleveland.
Cleveland's Rapid Transit Authority also pulled its $50,000 ad
campaign, oining pharmacy chain Revco and the Ohio Lottery. The
Lottery's Browns ad budget was $350,000. Also, Papa John's is
looking for a way to get out of its commitment to advertise on
Browns' radio broadcasts, and WOIO-TV will pull its three Browns-
related programs (Mary Ethridge, Akron BEACON JOURNAL, 11/10).
Coors, which ran a retail sweepstakes, sponsored give-aways and
advertised with the Browns, will seek to identify "the next best
alternatives" in the market (Becky Yerak, Cleveland PLAIN DEALER,
11/9).
DON'T GIVE UP THE FIGHT: The U.S. Senate Judiciary
Committee's subcommittee on antitrust, business rights and
competition has scheduled a hearing for November 29 on the
Browns' move (AP/Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 11/10). OH Sen. John
Glenn said he will file the "Fans Rights Act," which would
require any team looking to move to give the hometown 120 days
notice so the community could prepare a counter-offer. Glenn's
bill would also add a "limited exemption" to antitrust law so the
NFL could enforce its guidelines for allowing teams to move
(Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 11/9). Cleveland Mayor Michael White
said they had uncovered signs that Modell planned to move the
team to Baltimore, perhaps as early as '84. White has asked when
the name "Baltimore Browns" was incorporated (WASHINGTON TIMES,
11/10).
THE VOTE: Yesterday's PLAIN DEALER indicates Bills Owner
Ralph Wilson and Patriots Owner Robert Kraft have reconsidered
their initial opposition, and will vote to approve (Cleveland
PLAIN DEALER, 11/9). Wilson: "We're killing ourselves. ... You
think human nature is any different in the NFL than in baseball"
(S.F. CHRONICLE, 11/10). Modell, in this week's SI: "When I lay
out my losses and my lack of support from the city, they'll see I
have a far greater justification for moving than any team that's
tried to move in the NFL. They'd be insane to vote against me"
(Peter King, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, 11/13 issue). "Inside the
NFL's" Gary Myers said, while owners are unhappy with the move,
Modell was "very persuasive ... to the point that a few owners
told me they went into that meeting thinking they were going to
vote against the move, but came out actually feeling sorry for
Modell" (HBO, 11/9).
