Browns sale to Haslam approved; Holmgren to leave

CHICAGO — New owners want their own people running things.

Jimmy Haslam III is sticking to one of the oldest adages in sports, which means Mike Holmgren is out as president of the Cleveland Browns.

Haslam's $1 billion purchase of the franchise was unanimously approved by the 32 NFL teams Tuesday. Shortly after the vote, Haslam announced that Holmgren would be leaving, although the Super Bowl-winning coach will remain with the franchise until the end of the year to help in the transition. Former Eagles President Joe Banner will become the chief executive officer on Oct. 25 when the sale is concluded.

"Mike was brought in to be the president and I think in a lot of ways the de facto owner," Haslam said at the NFL's fall meeting, "and with us coming in and taking a more active role, Mike has decided to, effective at the end of the year, leave the Cleveland Browns ...

"Mike will work very closely with us over the next three or four months to ensure that this transition goes as well as possible."

Haslam plans no other personnel changes before 2013, meaning the jobs of coach Pat Shurmur and his staff and general manager Tom Heckert appear safe for now.

"I told Pat on Saturday night that this was the only personnel move until the end of the season," Haslam said. "But I am not at all saying we'll make changes at the end of the season."

The Browns were the last team to win a game this year, beating Cincinnati on Sunday after five losses. They are tied with Kansas City for the worst record in the league.

"At the end of the year we'll evaluate everybody in the organization just like we will at the end of every year, whether we win the Super Bowl or we win two games," Haslam said. "That's our philosophy and that's what we'll do."

Later Tuesday, the NFL confirmed that Minnesota will host Pittsburgh in a second London game next year. The Vikings and Steelers will play at Wembley Stadium on Sept. 29, 2013, four weeks before Jacksonville hosts San Francisco at Wembley.

"This is a unique opportunity," Vikings President Mark Wilf said. "It will give excellent and exceptional exposure for the team."

The league also announced that Houston, San Francisco and South Florida will bid for the 2016 and '17 Super Bowls.

The 57-year-old Haslam, who built his fortune with Pilot Flying J truck stops, has been a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and is in the process of divesting that stock.

The Browns have gone 10-28 since Holmgren was hired by Randy Lerner to run football operations in 2010.

"He has been and still is committed to doing everything he can to make the Cleveland Browns a winning football team," Haslam said of Holmgren, with whom he spoke at length in the 2½ months since he agreed to purchase the Browns. They met Sunday to work out the logistics of the transition.

"Mike was brought in to do a certain role and I don't think he wanted a different role," Haslam said.

Holmgren led the Green Bay Packers to the 1996 NFL championship and lost in the Super Bowl the next year to Denver. He left the Packers in 1999 to become coach and general manager in Seattle. Six years later, the Seahawks won the AFC title — Holmgren had given up much of his personnel duties by then to concentrate on coaching — and fell to Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl.

His time in Cleveland hasn't been nearly as successful. Indeed, Haslam has said his mission is to bring winning football back to Cleveland; the Browns have made the playoffs once since returning to the NFL in 1999.