This North Division professional football team part of the American Football Conference is located in Baltimore, Maryland. When the Baltimore Colts left Baltimore for Indianapolis to become the Indianapolis Colts, the people of Baltimore were then left without an NFL team to call their own. 1996 was the year that NFL returned to Baltimore. Cleveland Browns owner, Art Modell, had the intention of moving his team to Baltimore. It wasn’t as simple as he thought, however. Controversy arose over the matter, but a settlement came together between the two. The Cleveland Browns’ team records, name, colors, history, etc. would stay in Cleveland, but Modell could take the team players to Baltimore. Therefore Baltimore’s new team was like that of an expansion team except with an already established roster. The previous Baltimore Colts and Indianapolis Colts head coach, Ted Marchibroda, was hired as the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens.

For the first two seasons, the Baltimore Ravens played their home games in the Memorial Stadium in Baltimore – which was also the home field of the Baltimore Colts back in their day. In 1998, the Ravens moved to a new home stadium that is now their own and is named M&T Bank Stadium. Starting practically as an expansion team, a new name was needed for the NFL team that would call Baltimore its home. The Ravens was chosen after the famous book, “The Raven,” written by Edgar Allen Poe. Poe lived in Baltimore and was eventually laid to rest there as well. The name was given in honor of him and the famous book he wrote while in the city. The best season for the Baltimore Raven is 2000 when the team went head to head against the New York Giants at Super Bowl XXXV and finished with a smooth victory.