The 49ers don't really have much of anything in regards to history with the Browns. I found full games, but nothing I could place into the article for out viewing pleasure. As I looked around for something relevant, I stumbled on this interview with Carmen Policy.
This may be stretching it, but along with being the 49ers team president, Policy was involved with the Cleveland Browns, serving as president and a minority owner. He wound up stepping down in 2004. This video is interesting because this is talking about the infamous Proposition G along with the internal family battle between the Debartolos and the Yorks.
The whole Proposition G thing is a bit confusing, but I'll give it a shot: basically, the city of San Francisco wanted to build housing and commercial development in Hunter's Point. Part of this proposal was the possibility of a new 49ers stadium. Policy, as you can see in this video strongly suggested that if Proposition G passed, as well as Proposition F getting shot down, the Niners would be sticking around in San Francisco and not move to Santa Clara.
What Policy hoped for happened, except the 49ers never got their stadium.
What happened? Who knows. Probably in the history of the universe, one will never uncover the mystery of why Santa Clara and Levi's stadium were constructed.There's plenty of literature to figure why, including bluffs, original intents, and everything in between. To be fair, the shipyard proposed as San Francisco's landing spot was reportedly polluted due to a waste disposal landfill containing fun toxic chemicals such as petroleum, not exactly an ideal site for a family friendly, state-of-the-art stadium. But in that case, why were the 49ers allegedly on-board with the proposition in the first place? The whole thing was just one big mess where everyone wanted something the other didn't want to give up.
As for why this made Throwback Thursday? Why not? There's a lot of finger pointing about the 49ers going to Santa Clara--most of it towards Jed York. There's definitely some blame to go around to all parties involved. It's a common life tale of stuff just not working out for anyone. Everyone had their own ideas for how things would turn out and as life has shown us, the 49ers just didn't get what they wanted. There's two sides to every story, it's just a matter of fitting the pieces of each side to make a true narrative.
Politics man, I tell ya.