Imagine Cincinnati losing the Bengals. Changes to this law just made that easier. | Opinion
Recent changes to the Modell Law mean a team could walk away from Cleveland or Cincinnati and move to another part of Ohio without legal consequence.
When the Ohio House quietly amended the state's long-standing "Modell Law," they didn’t just change a sports statute. Instead, they signaled a deeper trend: the erosion of local decision-making and the rise of state-level overreach threatening Ohio’s economic competitiveness.
Passed in 1996 after Art Modell moved the Browns to Baltimore, the Modell Law was designed to protect taxpayers and communities from the emotional and financial blow of losing a professional team. It required team owners to give notice and offer the franchise for sale to local buyers before any move. But the recent amendment gutted that core protection. Now, the law only applies if a team leaves the state andnot if it relocates from one Ohio city to another.
In other words, a team could walk away from Cleveland or Cincinnati and move to another part of Ohio without legal consequence. That’s not just a loophole, it’s a structural shift that invites instability.
Teams like the Bengals, Browns could just walk away. It's not just a loophole.
Let’s be clear: this change wasn’t accidental. It came while Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are engaged in a legal battle with the Browns’ ownership, with the Modell Law central to the dispute. By limiting its reach, the amendment gives team owners unprecedented leverage, undermining legal proceedings in midstream and empowering the Browns' ownership to sidestep accountability.
This raises a broader question: Who holds the power to shape Ohio’s future, locally elected officials, or a handful of state legislators in Columbus?
The fight over the Browns’ stadium isn’t just about football. It’s about whether cities control their economic development strategies or whether those strategies are now subject to quiet reversals from the Statehouse. And the implications extend far beyond Cleveland.
Weakening legal protections in Cleveland sets a dangerous precedent
Cities like Cincinnati are actively planning for major stadium upgrades and broader revitalization efforts. Weakening local legal protections in Cleveland sets a dangerous precedent. If the state can undermine one local government, it sends a chilling message to all the others: Your long-term planning is valid only until we say otherwise.
It also means the state is now, in effect, competing against itself. Rather than building a coordinated strategy to attract federal dollars, private investment and marquee events, Ohio’s cities are being pushed into zero-sum competition where they are scrambling to retain teams, projects and prestige. That’s not smart economic planning. It’s a turf war disguised as policy.
You can’t build a competitive 21st-century economy when state and local governments are at cross purposes. Every time we undercut local authority, we reduce our collective capacity to compete and to deliver results for residents.
And this power grab is part of a broader pattern. We’ve seen state leaders override local zoning, block transit-oriented development, and intervene in ballot initiatives. The Ohio Legislature’s decision to weaken the Modell Law fits that trajectory. More importantly, it will likely embolden similar actions in the future.
If this were only about football, it might be easy to dismiss as political noise. But it's not. It's about governance, accountability, and the kind of Ohio we're choosing to build.
At a time when cities are asked to do more with less − to revitalize neighborhoods, grow local economies, and negotiate complex deals − stripping them of tools and authority is not just unwise. It's counterproductive.
The stakes are clear: cities need the power to act boldly and negotiate fairly. The state’s job should be to support that, not to sabotage it.
Ronald E. Stubblefield is a national economic development strategist who has advised state and local governments, Community Development Financial Institutions and economic development organizations across Ohio and the U.S. on inclusive investment, housing policy and structural equity. He is relocating from Cleveland to Cincinnati later this summer.