Baltimore Ravens

• 1. Introduction

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  The Baltimore Ravens were born from a betrayal. In November 1995, Art Modell announced he was taking the Cleveland Browns, one of the most storied franchises in professional football, and moving it to Baltimore. The city of Cleveland was devastated. Within months, a settlement was hammered out that would shape the new team in a peculiar way: Modell could bring his players and staff, but everything else stayed behind. The name, the colors, the records, the history. All of it remained in Cleveland. What arrived in Baltimore in 1996 was, officially, a brand-new expansion team. But with a roster of experienced NFL talent, it was anything but ordinary.

  The name the fans chose for this new franchise was drawn from Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem. A poet who had spent formative years in Baltimore and was buried there. What followed was a franchise that would win two Super Bowls, produce some of the most dominant defensive players in NFL history, and become home to a quarterback who would reshape the position. How did a team born of controversy build a legacy that strong?

• 2. The Name and Its Origins

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  "Ravens" was not an obvious choice. A fan vote that drew 33,288 participants settled the question, with the name honoring Edgar Allan Poe's connection to Baltimore. The Baltimore Sun noted at the time that fans also liked the tie to the city's baseball team, the Orioles, and found it easy to picture a tough, menacing black bird as a mascot. Other names in the running included "Marauders", "Americans", and "Bombers".

  What most fans do not know is that there was already a Baltimore Ravens before the football team. In 1972, Ralph Smith founded the Baltimore Ravens wheelchair basketball team, with the "Ravens" name inspired by a team member named Bob Ardinger. Smith was a long-time Baltimore resident and served as second Vice President of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. When the NFL franchise arrived in the 1990s, the naming rights were sold to the football team, and the basketball team was renamed the Maryland Ravens.

  Poe's connection to Baltimore ran deeper than the poem itself. His distant relatives played football for the Princeton Tigers from the 1880s through the early 1900s, and were regarded as notable figures in the early days of American football.

• 3. The Road to Baltimore

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  Baltimore had been without an NFL team since the Colts departed for Indianapolis in 1984. The city spent more than a decade trying to get one back, and the process was bruising.

  In 1993, Baltimore was considered second only to St. Louis as a likely recipient of one of two new expansion franchises. The city's bid, nicknamed the "Baltimore Bombers" after the locally produced Martin B-26 Marauder bomber, came with a proposed $200 million rent-free stadium and up to $80 million in personal seat license fees. But Baltimore was passed over in favor of Jacksonville, a city with a minor TV market that had actually withdrawn from contention before returning. Maryland governor William Donald Schaefer said afterward that Commissioner Paul Tagliabue had led him on, praising Baltimore publicly while working against the bid behind the scenes. The Baltimore Sun went so far as to describe Tagliabue's approach as an "Anybody But Baltimore" policy.

  By 1994, Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos was assembling investors, including author Tom Clancy, to pursue teams considering relocation. He found a potential partner in Georgia Frontiere, who was open to moving the Los Angeles Rams to Baltimore. Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke opposed any such move and was accused of actively lobbying against Baltimore's interests. Angelos called Cooke a "carpetbagger". Tagliabue eventually steered the Rams toward St. Louis instead. After an unsuccessful $200 million bid for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Baltimore turned its attention to the Cleveland Browns and a financially struggling Art Modell.

• 4. Building the Roster

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  When the Ravens held their first NFL draft in 1996, they used two first-round picks to set the tone for the franchise. With the 4th pick they selected offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden from UCLA, and with the 26th they took linebacker Ray Lewis from the University of Miami. Both players would spend their entire professional careers in Baltimore, and both were eventually inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

  The 1996 team won its opening game against the Oakland Raiders but finished 4-12. In 1997, rookie defender Peter Boulware from Florida State recorded 11.5 sacks and earned AFC Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. That same season, on the 14th of December 1997, the Ravens played the final professional sporting event ever held at Baltimore's historic Memorial Stadium, winning 21-19 over the Tennessee Oilers.

  The 1998 season brought a move to a brand-new stadium next to Camden Yards, initially called PSINet Stadium after the internet service provider that purchased the naming rights. Rod Woodson joined from the Pittsburgh Steelers, and running back Priest Holmes ran for 1,000 yards in his first significant playing time. Head coach Ted Marchibroda was fired after three consecutive losing seasons. Brian Billick, who had been the offensive coordinator for the record-setting 1998 Minnesota Vikings, was hired as his replacement.

  In the 2002 draft, the Ravens selected safety Ed Reed with the 24th overall pick. Reed would go on to make nine Pro Bowls before leaving for the Houston Texans in 2013, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019.

• 5. The 2000 Defense

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  The Ravens' 2000 season produced what many consider the most dominant defensive performance in NFL history. Baltimore held opponents to just 165 total points across a 16-game regular season, surpassing the record of 187 points set by the 1985 Chicago Bears. That record still stands.

  Ray Lewis was named Defensive Player of the Year. The team finished 12-4, making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Because the Tennessee Titans had a better record at 13-3, the Ravens had to enter as a wild card. They defeated the Denver Broncos 21-3, then traveled to Tennessee and won 24-10 after an Al Del Greco field goal attempt was blocked and returned for a touchdown by Anthony Mitchell, followed by a Ray Lewis interception return for a score.

  In the AFC Championship against the Oakland Raiders, a 96-yard touchdown catch by tight end Shannon Sharpe in the second quarter and a subsequent injury to Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon put the game out of reach. The Ravens won 16-3.

  Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa was played against the New York Giants. The defense recorded four sacks and forced five turnovers. Cornerback Duane Starks returned a Kerry Collins interception for a touchdown. The Giants' only score was a Ron Dixon kickoff return, which the Ravens immediately answered with a return touchdown by Jermaine Lewis. The final score was 34-7. Ray Lewis was named Super Bowl MVP.

  In 2003, running back Jamal Lewis set what was then an NFL record by rushing for 295 yards in a single game against the Cleveland Browns on the 14th of September, finishing the season with 2,066 yards total.

• 6. Two Eras, Two Quarterbacks

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  John Harbaugh was hired as head coach in 2008, replacing Brian Billick after a 5-11 season that included a humiliating overtime loss to the previously winless Miami Dolphins. Harbaugh, the special teams coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, was the older brother of former Ravens quarterback Jim Harbaugh.

  Harbaugh's first season also brought rookie quarterback Joe Flacco. The Ravens won eleven games and reached the AFC Championship before falling to the Pittsburgh Steelers 23-14 on the 18th of January, 2009. Four years later, Flacco delivered one of the most complete performances in Super Bowl history. In Super Bowl XLVII against the San Francisco 49ers in New Orleans, Flacco completed 22 of 33 passes for 287 yards and three touchdowns. Baltimore built a 28-6 lead before a partial power outage in the Superdome suspended play for 34 minutes, earning the game the nickname the "Blackout Bowl". San Francisco scored 17 unanswered points to cut the lead to 28-23, but the Ravens held on, winning 34-31. Flacco was named Super Bowl MVP. That season also marked Ray Lewis's final year before retirement.

  Lamar Jackson arrived with the 32nd pick of the 2018 draft. After Joe Flacco was injured in Week 11, Jackson took over and led the team to six wins in seven games, finishing 10-6. He became the youngest quarterback in NFL history to start a playoff game. On the 13th of March, 2019, Flacco was traded to the Denver Broncos for a fourth-round pick.

  Jackson's first full season as starter in 2019 produced historic results. The Ravens finished 14-2, with Jackson becoming only the second player in NFL history to rush for over 1,000 yards from the quarterback position, breaking Michael Vick's single-season quarterback rushing record of 1,037 yards. The Ravens also set an NFL record by rushing for 3,296 yards as a team that season and became the first team in NFL history to average at least 200 passing yards and 200 rushing yards per game in the same season. Jackson was unanimously voted the AP NFL MVP, only the second player ever to earn unanimous honors after Tom Brady in 2010.

  In 2021, kicker Justin Tucker set the NFL record for the longest field goal in history with a 66-yard kick against the Detroit Lions, five yards longer than his own previous career long.

• 7. Ownership and Valuation

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  Art Modell sold a 49 percent stake in the Ravens to tech investor Steve Bisciotti of Aerotek on the 27th of March, 2000, for $275 million. The deal included an option for Bisciotti to buy an additional 50 percent for $325 million in 2004, while Modell retained a 1 percent stake until his death in 2012.

  Bisciotti became the majority owner on the 9th of April, 2004. The total purchase price was $600 million. By 2023, the franchise was valued at $4.63 billion, ranking it as the 28th most valuable sports franchise in the world.

  Ozzie Newsome, who had played tight end for the Cleveland Browns before following Modell to Baltimore, served as the team's general manager from 1996 through the 2018 season. He was replaced by Eric DeCosta, a longtime assistant within the organization.

  The Ravens' marching band has an even longer history than the football team itself. Known as Baltimore's Marching Ravens, the band began as the Colts' marching band and has operated continuously since the 7th of September, 1947. After the Colts left for Indianapolis, the band stayed in Baltimore and campaigned for the return of professional football. Their persistence earned them the nickname "the band that would not die" and a feature episode on ESPN's 30 for 30.

• 8. The Logo Dispute

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  Frederick E. Bouchat, an amateur artist and security guard in Maryland, submitted a helmet logo design to the Maryland Stadium Authority by fax after learning Baltimore was acquiring an NFL team. His fax went to John Moag, the Maryland Stadium Authority chairman, whose office was in the same building as Art Modell's.

  When the Ravens unveiled their first helmet logo, used from 1996 through the 1999 Pro Bowl, it featured raven wings spread from a shield displaying a letter B. Bouchat sued the team, claiming the design was his. Team representatives argued the logo had been designed independently. The US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a jury verdict that the logo had infringed on Bouchat's copyright, noting that Modell had access to his work. Despite winning the legal judgment, Bouchat was not awarded any monetary compensation in the damages phase of the case.

  After The Baltimore Sun ran a poll of three new logo designs, fans chose a raven's head in profile. Modell agreed to honor that preference but insisted on including a letter B somewhere in the design. The new logo introduced in 1999 features a raven's head in profile with the letter B superimposed. The secondary logo is a shield incorporating the alternating Calvert and Crossland emblems found in both the flag of Maryland and the flag of Baltimore. The team unveiled an entirely new uniform set on the 16th of April, 2026, shifting to a shade called midnight purple and introducing three distinct helmet designs.