Art Modell did not give the City of Cleveland a chance to keep the original Browns franchise.

Jim Bailey, who served as Modell’s and the team’s legal counsel in his role as executive vice president, administration and legal, said it in “Believeland,” the documentary that premiered last Saturday night as part of ESPN’s “30 for 30” series. He pointed out that what the city could have offered was far less than what the nearly bankrupt Modell needed.

Fred Nance, who was serving as as the city’s attorney then, also said it. He pointed out that he and Cleveland officials learned of Modell’s decision to move the team to Baltimore following the 1995 season, when they heard it on TV.

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Cleveland never had a chance. Modell wasn’t about to give it to the city. That was made clear in “Believeland.”

“There was never one time when Art put a gun to our heads,” Nance said. “That was both good and bad.”

Almost 21 years later, the debate rages on.

Only it isn’t much of a debate.

Actually, it isn’t a debate at all.

Modell made a mistake – a big mistake, an unforgivable one – by moving the team. And it bothered him until the day he died. His son, David Modell, flatly said that in “Believeland.”

Let’s cut to the chase on “The Move.”

Did the Cleveland politicians make big mistakes themselves in not addressing Modell’s legitimate need for a new stadium?

Yes. Of course. That’s obvious.

But everyone knows that if Modell had given Cleveland the opportunity to provide Modell with what he wanted, and needed, the city would have come through with flying colors.

Modell, being influenced greatly by people whose legacies were not going to be forever tainted if the Browns moved, finally caved and took the team to Baltimore.

That’s on Modell. That’s not on anyone else.

You can buy a man a gun. You can pay for him to have lessons to learn how to use it. You can load that gun. You can put that gun into his hand. You can encourage him to use it.

But at the end of the day, he has to be the one to pull the trigger.

And Modell was the one to pull the trigger.

Modell said, “I had no choice.”

But he did.

And his choice was not to use it.