Success Quote by Art Modell

There is something almost disarmingly clean about Art Modell saying he wants to “go out on top, as a winner.” It’s the kind of line that sounds like pure competitive ethos, until you remember who’s talking: a sports businessman whose most famous “win” was moving the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore, detonating a civic identity to preserve a balance sheet and claim a fresh start.

The specific intent is image management. Modell isn’t talking about a single season or a trophy; he’s talking about legacy. “Go out” frames his career like a narrative arc with a final chapter he can control. “On top” borrows the language of the locker room, but it’s really the language of leverage: be the person who exits with status intact, debts settled, headlines favorable. “As a winner” is the key tell. It’s not “with pride,” not “having done right by people,” not even “with a championship.” It’s scoreboard morality: the world is divided into winners and losers, and the only intolerable outcome is to be remembered as the latter.

The subtext is anxiety. Modell spent years caught between old-school civic paternalism (the owner as community steward) and the modern franchise era where teams are mobile assets. This sentence is him insisting the public accept the new terms: results justify the methods. The context makes it land with an edge; in pro sports, “winning” is supposed to be communal. Modell’s version is solitary, almost corporate: he doesn’t just want the team to win, he wants history to declare him the victor.