CLEVELAND (AP) — Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner has begun talks with an investor to give up controlling interest in the team.
President Mike Holmgren says Lerner’s discussions with truck-stop magnate Jimmy Haslam won’t affect the team’s status in Cleveland. In his words, “The Cleveland Browns are not going anywhere.”
Holmgren says keeping the team in Cleveland was an agreed stipulation in the talks.
Holmgren says players were briefed on the matter Friday morning. He says Lerner “is giving up controlling interest in the team.”
The 50-year-old Lerner, who also owns the Aston Villa soccer club in England, inherited the Browns in 2002 following the death of his father, Al.
The Browns have been owned by the Lerner family since 1999, when the franchise was reborn after the original club moved to Baltimore.
