Art Modell revealed among dozen finalists for Pro Football Hall of Fame

The former Ravens owner is inching closer to football immortality.

The man that is responsible for bringing an NFL franchise back to Charm City is up for enshrinement for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The late Art Modell, former owner of the Baltimore Ravens, was one of 12 finalists from the Coach/Contributor list that were announced for the 2022 class.

This is an honor that many believe is long overdue for Modell who passed in 2012 at 87 years old. He was a finalist in 2020 when the number of enshrinees was expanded for the centennial class.

Unfortunately, he missed the cut that year as former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, former New York Giants General Manager George Young and NFL Films President and founder Steve Sabol were the three contributors who got in ahead of him.

Modell’s resume for consideration is impressive and includes being the chairman of the NFL Television Committee for 31 years (1962-1993), helping establish NFL Films, and serving on the committee to merge the NFL and AFC, then agreed to move to the AFC.

During his time as an owner, his teams won a pair of NFL championships, one of which was Super Bowl XXXV with the Ravens.

Even though he wasn’t the first NFL owner to relocate his franchise, many fans and voters still harbor hard feelings about his decisions to move the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore and rebrand the franchise as the Ravens. Even though the likes of Dan Reeves, Lamar Hunt, and Al Davis all moved their teams to another city, they have all been inducted into the Hall of Fame.