With these troubles still fresh, the NFL then dealt the CFL's American expansion a critical blow. On November 6, 1995—the week of the South Division Final—the NFL's Cleveland Browns announced they were moving to Baltimore for the following season. A day after the game, the American owners called Commissioner Smith and requested a meeting in Toronto; Smith's summary of their position was "we'll pay our bills but we're done." The Stallions had been broadsided by the announcement; although rumors of the NFL's impending return to Baltimore had cropped up as early as September, Speros and other insiders did not believe they were serious. Nonetheless, the rumors were enough to impair the Stallions' marketing efforts, and attendance for the team's semi-final against Winnipeg (played two days before the Browns' announcement) was a franchise low of 21,040.