After suffering through years of mediocre football, a group of Browns fans have come up with a plan to make the team better: They're going to buy it -- because if you want something done right in this world, you have to do it yourself.
A group called the "Billion Dollar Browns" is trying to raise, you guessed it, a billion dollars, in order to buy the team. The group seems pretty excited about their idea, so I won't pester them with minor details like the fact that the Browns are actually worth $1.5 billion, according to Forbes' latest estimate.
The group has set up a website, a GoFundMe page and a Facebook page to raise awareness for their cause.
Now, I know what you're thinking. "Let's say this crazy plan somehow worked, then who would own and/or run the team since it's being crowdfunded?"
Apparently, the group thought of that.
The Browns would be run by a 13-person board of directors that consists of "six great football minds from Ohio -- high school and college coaches with a passion for the game -- and seven superb civic leaders."
And just so no one gets too comfortable in their position, all 13 spots would only be for three-year terms.
The group's plan is to ask one million Browns fans to donate one dollar as an initial pledge. That one-dollar pledge would actually be a $1,000 pledge, but you'd only have to donate the thousand if the initial million was raised.
As far as crowdfunding a football team goes, you could probably do worse than this plan. The group has raised a little more than $500 so far, which is $500 more than most people probably thought they would raise.
The Billion Dollar Browns are figuring they can do a better job than everyone else who has owned the team since Cleveland returned to the NFL in 1999. In 15 seasons, the Browns have only had two winning records and haven't won a playoff game.
Anyway, maybe Raiders fans should steal this idea; their team costs less, and then they could keep them in Oakland.
