What does BAL mean in NFL Teams?

Baltimore Ravens

The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its home games at M&T Bank Stadium and is headquartered in Owings Mills.The Ravens were established in 1996, after Art Modell, who was then the owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced plans to relocate the franchise from Cleveland to Baltimore in 1995. As part of a settlement between the league and the city of Cleveland, Modell was required to leave the Browns' history and records in Cleveland for a replacement team and replacement personnel that would take control in 1999. In return, he was allowed to take his own personnel and team to Baltimore, where such personnel would then form an expansion team. The Ravens have been one of the more successful franchises since their inception, having qualified for the NFL playoffs 12 times since 2000, with two Super Bowl championship titles (Super Bowl XXXV and Super Bowl XLVII), two AFC Championship titles (2000 and 2012), 15 playoff victories, four AFC Championship game appearances (2000, 2008, 2011 and 2012), six AFC North division titles (2003, 2006, 2011, 2012, 2018, and 2019), and are currently the only team in the NFL to hold a perfect record in multiple Super Bowl appearances. The Ravens organization was led by general manager Ozzie Newsome from 1996 until his retirement following the 2018 season, and has had three head coaches: Ted Marchibroda, Brian Billick, and since 2008, John Harbaugh. Starting with a record-breaking defensive performance in their 2000 season, the Ravens have established a reputation for strong defensive play throughout team history, featuring Hall of Fame players like middle linebacker Ray Lewis and safety Ed Reed as well as Pro Bowl players like defensive end Terrell Suggs and defensive tackle Haloti Ngata. The team is owned by Steve Bisciotti and valued at $2.59 billion, making the Ravens the 29th-most valuable sports franchise in the world.

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