History of the Ravens

The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its home games at M&T Bank Stadium and is headquartered in Owings Mills.

The Baltimore Ravens were established in 1996 after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns announced plans in 1995 to relocate the franchise from Cleveland, Ohio to Baltimore, Maryland. As part of a settlement between the league and the city of Cleveland, Ohio, Modell was required to leave the Browns' history, team colors, and records in Cleveland for a replacement team and replacement personnel that would resume play in 1999. In return, he was allowed to take his own personnel and team to Baltimore, where such personnel would then form an expansion team. The team is now owned by Steve Bisciotti and valued at $2.98 billion, making the Ravens the 33rd-most valuable sports franchise in the world.

Established
1996

City
Baltimore

League History
1996 – Present / National Football League

Team History
1996 - Present / Baltimore Ravens

Nickname
Ravens - Of the more than 33,000 voters in the Sun’s phone-in poll, more than 21,000 picked Ravens. “It gives us a strong nickname that is not common to teams at any level, and it gives us one that means something historically to this community,” said team owner Art Modell, who had attempted to buy the Colts nickname back from the franchise that left Baltimore for Indianapolis in 1984. The Marauders nickname referenced a B-26 built during World War II by the Glenn L. Martin Company, a predecessor to Lockheed Martin that was based in Baltimore. Other names considered included the Railers, Bulldogs, Mustangs, and Steamers. Ravens, a reference to Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem, beat out Americans and Marauders in a contest conducted by the Baltimore Sun. Poe died and is buried in Baltimore.

Championship
Super Bowl 2
2013, 2001

Stadium
2003 - Present / M&T Bank Stadium
2002 - 2003 / Ravens Stadium at Camden Yards
1999 - 2002 / PSINet Stadium
1998 - 1999 / Ravens Stadium at Camden Yards
1996 - 1997 / Memorial Stadium

Owner
2004 - Present / Steve Bisciotti
1996 - 2004 / Art Modell

Retired Number

*Blue is this team’s history