BALTIMORE (AP) — Former Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell has been hospitalized in Baltimore.
The team says the 87-year-old Modell is at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Kevin Byrne, senior vice president of public and community relations for the team, did not know Modell’s condition, but Cleveland television station WKYC reported that Modell’s vital organs are failing.
Modell purchased the Cleveland Browns for $4 million in 1961 and moved the franchise to Baltimore in 1996. The move made him a hero in Baltimore but a pariah in Cleveland.
He sold a minority interest in the team to Steve Bisciotti in 2000, and in April 2004, Bisciotti completed purchase of the franchise. But Modell retained a 1 percent piece of the team and is listed in the current Ravens media guide as a minority owner.
