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The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. They compete in the Northern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Ravens have won one Super Bowl title, Super Bowl XXXV, in the 2000 season against the New York Giants. Catch a Baltimore Ravens football game a short distance away from the Inner Harbor, where it's easy to get in on the action, spirit and fun of Baltimore!
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. They compete in the Northern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Ravens have won one Super Bowl title, Super Bowl XXXV, in the 2000 season against the New York Giants. Catch a Baltimore Ravens football game a short distance away from the Inner Harbor, where it's easy to get in on the action, spirit and fun of Baltimore! On November 6, 1995, then-Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell announced his intention to move the team to Baltimore, citing the inadequacy of Cleveland Stadium and the lack of a sufficient replacement along with his heavy debt. The decision triggered a flurry of legal activity that ended when representatives of Cleveland and the NFL reached a settlement on February 8, 1996. It stipulated that the Browns' name, colors, and history of the franchise were to remain in Cleveland, including past records and the attribution of its Pro Football Hall of Fame players. A reactivated Cleveland Browns team would then begin play in 1999, while Modell's relocated club would technically and legally be an expansion team, the Ravens. Still, some consider the Ravens and the pre-1995 Browns organization as one continuous entity, using terms like "The Modell organization" or "Art Modell's franchise" to denote it. The CFL team, the Baltimore Stallions, had proved such a success and the fans showed up in droves to prove they deserved an NFL franchise. This caught the attention of Modell. After relocating his franchise, retaining the current contracts of former Browns players and personnel as per the agreement made by the city of Cleveland and the NFL, owner Art Modell hired Ted Marchibroda as head coach, who had previous experience with the Baltimore Colts during the 1970s and the Indianapolis Colts during the early 1990s. Ozzie Newsome, the Browns tight end for many seasons, joined Modell in Baltimore as director of football operations. He was later promoted to Vice President/General Manager. Focus groups, a telephone survey, and a fan contest were all held to help select a new name for Modell's relocated club. Starting with a list of over 100 possible names, the team's management reduced it to 17. From there, focus groups of a total of 200 Baltimore area residents reduced the list of names to six, and then a phone survey of 1000 people trimmed it down to three, Marauders, Americans, and Ravens. Finally, a fan contest drawing 33,288 voters picked "Ravens", a name that alludes to the famous poem, "The Raven", by Edgar Allan Poe, who spent the latter part of his life in Baltimore, and is also buried there. Baltimore went to Tampa for Super Bowl XXXV against the New York Giants, in the 2000 season. The game was dominated by the Ravens. They recorded four sacks and forced five turnovers, one of which was a Kerry Collins interception returned for a touchdown by Duane Starks. The Giants' only score was a Ron Dixon kickoff return for another touchdown; however, the Ravens immediately countered with a return by Jermaine Lewis. The Ravens became champions with a 34-7 win, becoming only the third wild card team to win a Super Bowl championship. |
