Ravenfanatics

Baltimore Ravens

The history behind the team

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 Ravens were established in 1996, when Art Modell, who was then the owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced plans to relocate the franchise from Cleveland, Ohio to Baltimore. As part of a settlement between the league and the city of Cleveland, Modell was required to leave the Browns' heritage in Cleveland for a replacement team and replacement personnel that would take control in 1999 including the history and records of the Browns. 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's name was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven.

The Ravens have qualified for the NFL playoffs ten times since 2000, with two Super Bowl victories (Super Bowl XXXV and Super Bowl XLVII), two AFC Championship titles (2000 and 2012), four AFC North division titles (2003, 2006, 2011 and 2012), and are currently the only team in the NFL to hold a perfect record in multiple Super Bowl appearances. The Ravens organization has been led by general manager Ozzie Newsome since 1996, and has had three head coaches: Ted Marchibroda, Brian Billick, and John Harbaugh. With a record-breaking defensive unit in their 2000 season, the team established a reputation for relying on strong defensive play, led by players like middle linebacker Ray Lewis, who, until his retirement, was considered the "face of the franchise." The team is owned by Steve Bisciotti and valued at $1.5 billion, making the Ravens the 24th-most valuable sports franchise in the world.