Raleigh Cleveland Browns Backers

04/26/2026

Good Morning everyone

As some may know, Sophie's is closing down. Desi sold the restaurant to a big company.

Fear not! The Raleigh Browns Backers will be moving to a new location for the 2026 season.

The place is 'The Balkan Table." It is at 2425 Kildare Farm Road Suite 20.

Neli is the owner and Desi will be the GM of The Balkan Table. So it will have the same great menu and the same amazing love for the Browns.

The Balkan Table is set to open in either late May or early June. Keep your eyes out for information about their grand opening!

The Browns had an amazing draft (per multiple websites). We look forward to seeing everyone at the new location in September!!

Have a great summer everyone. The season will begin soon.

04/22/2026

The NFL Draft is tomorrow!!!!!

I absolutely love the NFL Draft. It's one of my favorite weekends of the year. I am so looking forward to seeing everyone and hanging out at Sophie's for the NFL Draft Party for the first round on Thursday April 23, 2026. The first round begins at 8 pm. We will have full sound for the draft.

Our Cleveland Browns have two selections in the first round! We have picks 6 and 24. Popular rumors think the Browns will take an Offensive Lineman and a Wide Receiver with those selections. Are the rumors true? Come and join us to find out.

I received interest in setting up a Mock Draft Contest so we will do this two (2) ways.

1) On IOS, download the free app PickPool or on Android go to the website https://pickpool.app/. After you set-up your free account (just name and email), there are two tabs at the top of the Homepage: 'Sponsored' and "Private.'

Click 'Private' and Search for "Raleigh Browns Backers." The password to get in is "M1chigansucks".

This is completely free to do. The contest tracks 'Player Name,' 'Position,' and 'Team.' This will calculate the points for us and assign a winner. Everyone can have a max of two (2) entries. So please take the 10-15 minutes to do a mock draft (with trades) and let's see who comes out on top.

2) Completely Optional: If you want to add a little spice to the contest, come to Sophie's in-person and bring $5. We will put together a little side pool and the winner(s) of the in-person side game will take home a little extra cash.

If you are looking for some good podcasts about the NFL Draft, Todd McShay has a good one on The Ringer. Also, the NFL Stock Exchange (NFLSE) is highly entertaining. Both are on Spotify or (probably) wherever you listen to things. Other Mock Drafts are widely available on ESPN, The Ringer, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report, ect.

Happy draft season everyone and I hope to see you all tomorrow at Sophie's!!

The 2026 season starts now!

09/03/2025

Please remove me as an administrator from this group

08/14/2025

The Raleigh Browns Backers will not be hosting any official events for the Browns Preseason games. However, they will be broadcast at Sophie's Bar and Grill; just without sound.

The first official event of the season will be Opening Day against Cincinnati on 9/7/25.

You can see the full Browns' schedule here for the upcoming season.

The schedule is mostly Sunday 1p games.

Week 5 verses Minnesota is the London game and is at 9:30 a.m. in the morning. Desi is planning a special breakfast for the game and we will be doing a special giveaway that week. So I hope everyone plans to join us early in the morning for that. More details to come as 10/5 draws closer.

The halftime structure with the 50/50 raffle and weekly giveaways will remain unchanged. We have awesome items to raffle away each week!!

Also, Bruce has his weekly free tickets to win airfare and tickets to the 2026 Browns season home opener each week. All you have to do is find him at the table in the middle, say "hi,' and write your name (and maybe number?) on a ticket to win. Drawing will be during the Week 18 game against Cincinnati. You must be present to win.

There will be an updated menu this season with several new items. I will post a copy here once it is finalized.

Have a wonderful couple of weeks and I hope to see everyone on September 7th at 1 p.m. for the kickoff of an awesome season.

Go Browns!!

08/10/2025

Just a reminder pre season games will not be on at Sophie bar and grill due to unavailably to stream them on tv.

Save up your energy!!

Join us on September 7th at 1 pm for the start of a great season.

Bring a couple of dollars for 50/50, and each member will get a free ticket for a give away.

Also see Bruce to get your ticket for a chance to go to next year's Home opener.

08/03/2025

What an amazing time in Cleveland Ohio

07/31/2025

What changes/updates/modifications would you like to see to the Sophie's Gameday Menu?

Something I heard the most last season was the addition/creation of a kid's menu. What else would you like to see?

07/31/2025

It's officially the beginning of the 2025 Football Season. Training Camp is underway and here is the flyer for the official drawing for this season. Join us every game for your chance to win!

04/20/2025

Happy Easter everyone! We will be at Sophie's for the 1st Round of the NFL Draft on Thursday 4/24/25. Draft starts at 8p and the Browns choose 2nd (currently). There will be live music at Sophies until 9p (just want everyone to know). We will get TV Sound when they finish playing. Hope to see everyone there!

01/10/2025

Deshaun re-tore his Achilles & had another surgery yesterday, and will likely miss the entire 2025 season. If he doesn't play in 2025 the Browns would receive $44.3mil in insurance relief which can be recouped in cap space in 2026. Looks like we may have found our way out of this purgatory!

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson ruptured his Achilles again, tests revealed, and underwent another surgery on Thursday to repair it, per NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport.