This article details the history of the Baltimore Ravens, a professional American football team which plays in the National Football League. The Ravens were formed to fill in the void left by Baltimore's previous team, the Colts, who had controversially moved to Indianapolis. Ironically, the Ravens' formation necessitated the relocation of the Cleveland Browns' players and personnel, leaving Cleveland without a team until the Browns resumed operations as an expansion team three years later. Since then the Ravens have usually featured a strong defense and have won two Super Bowl championships. Origins Ahead of the 1995 league expansion, eleven years after the Colts' controversial move to Indianapolis, the city of Baltimore expected to be granted an NFL franchise and put together its most attractive financial package. However, to make way for Jack Kent Cooke's ultimately unsuccessful plan to move the Washington Redskins to Laurel, Maryland, then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue convinced the league's team owners to pass over Baltimore. In the 1995, the NFL Expansion Draft saw the creation of the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars franchises were given granted to smaller TV markets in Charlotte, North Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida respectively. In response to outrage in Baltimore, including then-governor William Donald Schaefer's threat to announce over the loudspeakers Tagliabue's exact location in Camden Yards any time he attended a Baltimore Orioles game, Tagliabue remarked, "Maybe (Baltimore) can open another museum with that money." Having failed to obtain a franchise via the expansion, the city, despite having "misgivings," turned to the possibility of obtaining an existing franchise, namely the Cleveland Browns, whose then-owner Art Modell was financially struggling and at odds with the city of Cleveland over needed improvements to the team's stadium. On November 6, 1995, 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. Initially, the team was to be known as the "Baltimore Browns." The plan was for the "Baltimore Browns" to play at Memorial Stadium until a new stadium could be built. However, 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