crabbyshark
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And there remain rumblings of one bizarre, remote possibility, which would involve a complicated franchise switch. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam badly, badly wanted to own the Titans, in his home state of Tennessee. But at the time the Browns became available a few years back, he had a decision to make -- wait for the Titans to come to the market, eventually, and hope to win a bidding war against giants like Smith and Tepper (sources said he was advised by the league that's a battle he might not be able to win), or move quickly to land the Browns. He chose Cleveland.
In his perfect world, however, if someone other than Tepper ends up with the Titans, several highly-placed sources have suggested there might be backroom talks of a potential franchise swap with the Browns (Tepper is a Pittsburgh guy through and through, and would never want to own their rival in the Browns). It would be, ultimately, probably impossible, but it's a dynamic other owners are watching and many interested parties will be monitoring.
"Don't ignore the possibility of a swap with the Browns when that time comes," said one source who deals directly with many ownership groups. Some tax issues could prevent the Titans sale from happening as quickly as some others -- the Browns and Bills have changed hands quite quickly in recent years -- but make no mistake this has become more of a front-burner issue now with the NFL, and it would certainly behoove the NFL to have it wrapped up in 2015.
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer...oser-but-dont-rule-out-haslam-swapping-browns
In his perfect world, however, if someone other than Tepper ends up with the Titans, several highly-placed sources have suggested there might be backroom talks of a potential franchise swap with the Browns (Tepper is a Pittsburgh guy through and through, and would never want to own their rival in the Browns). It would be, ultimately, probably impossible, but it's a dynamic other owners are watching and many interested parties will be monitoring.
"Don't ignore the possibility of a swap with the Browns when that time comes," said one source who deals directly with many ownership groups. Some tax issues could prevent the Titans sale from happening as quickly as some others -- the Browns and Bills have changed hands quite quickly in recent years -- but make no mistake this has become more of a front-burner issue now with the NFL, and it would certainly behoove the NFL to have it wrapped up in 2015.
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer...oser-but-dont-rule-out-haslam-swapping-browns