Back to the Baltimore Ravens Newsfeed

Happy 20th birthday, Ravens: City selected nickname 20 years ago

It's time to break out the candles and celebrate the 20th birthday of the Baltimore Ravens.

But what if the city's current team wasn't the Ravens? What is often forgotten is that the influential football leaders in Baltimore had other ideas.

Owner Art Modell's original choice for a nickname was the Bulldogs, in honor of the Canton, Ohio, team that helped start the NFL. Then-president David Modell envisioned a team called the Americans, a nod to the Baltimore-Ohio train known as the American. And former Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas preferred to keep the equine theme with Mustangs.