As the stadium's construction got underway, the NFL began to search for an owner for the team, which the league decided would be an expansion franchise March 23, 1998. A litany of potential owners lined up, including Kosar and a group backed partly by HBO founder Charles Dolan, comedian Bill Cosby and former Miami coach Don Shula. The ultimate winner was Al Lerner, the Baltimore man who had helped Modell in 1986 by buying a small stake in the Browns. A seven-member NFL expansion committee awarded the team to Lerner for $530 million in September 1998. Lerner, then 65 years old, had a majority share, while Carmen Policy, who helped build the 49ers dynasty of the 1980s, owned 10% of the team and was to run football operations.