The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The team began play in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and joined the NFL in 1950 when the leagues merged.
The Browns were the AAFC's most successful franchise, and were one of only three teams to join the NFL following the merger. In 1995, after nearly 50 years in Cleveland, then owner Art Modell announced his intention to move the team to Baltimore, Maryland, initiating a relocation controversy that led to legal action. The legal action resulted in a unique compromise: Modell would keep the Browns' existing player and staff contracts, but his team officially would be a new franchise; this team is now known as the Baltimore Ravens. The Browns name, history, and archives would remain in Cleveland, and a new Browns team began play in 1999 after a three-year period of "deactivation".
Cleveland has won a total of eight league championships. They won all four AAFC titles (including a 15-0 undefeated season in 1948), and after joining the NFL won four additional championships prior to the league's merger with the American Football League (AFL) in 1970. Following the merger, the Browns were one of three NFL teams which joined the ten former AFL teams to form the new American Football Conference. Despite having the sixth-highest winning percentage of all NFL franchises, the Browns have not played in a league championship game since the merger; however, they have competed for the AFC Championship three times. Having lost all three games, along with two NFL Championship Games of the Super Bowl era prior to the merger (in 1968 and 1969), Cleveland is one of four NFL teams that has yet to reach the Super Bowl. Furthermore, Cleveland has never hosted a Super Bowl, making it the only NFL city to have neither hosted nor sent a team to the Super Bowl
