In February 1996, the NFL announced that the Browns would be ‘deactivated’ for three years and that a new stadium would be built for a new Browns team, as either an expansion team or a team moved from another city, that would begin to play in 1999. Modell would in turn be granted a new franchise, the NFL’s 31st, for Baltimore, the Baltimore Ravens, retaining the current contracts of players and personnel. The Browns ceased to play at the end of the 1995 season when Modell relocated the organization to Baltimore. The Browns franchise was then reactivated, and its roster restocked via an expansion draft before resuming play in the 1999 season. There would be a new team, but the Browns’ name, colors, history, records, awards, and archives would all remain in Cleveland. The move fueled a proliferation of 12 new stadiums throughout the NFL. Using the NFL–City of Cleveland agreement’s promise to supply a team to Cleveland by 1999, several NFL franchises used the threat of relocation to coerce their respective cities to build new stadiums with public funds.