Fun fact: the Colts moving from Baltimore left a wound so deep that, after the Ravens formed and the Colts started returning to Baltimore regularly to play, the name "Colts" would not be officially used until around the 2010s. Every other team had their team name displayed on the scoreboard, but when the Colts visited, they'd only be shown as "Indy," and in pregame, they were introduced as the "Indianapolis professional football team."
Great job on the history. I was a child when the Colts left but I can remember it like it was yesterday. As a former member of the Colts/ Ravens matching band before and after the Ravens came into being I can tell you the marching band also played a massive role in getting the local and state government's opinions to change on building a new stadium. The band also was an ambassador for the city playing at other NFL games to try and convince the NFL we wanted a franchise. Art Modell was very moved by the band's dedication to the sport and to Baltimore, so much so that he ensured they would remain and be renamed the Marching Ravens. Thus, I would argue that nobody worked harder to get a new team than the band president John Ziemann, the same man who "took the band uniforms to get washed." He deserves to have his place in Baltimore football history as well.
Amazing fact. The two games that gave the NFL a quantum leap forward in popularity were the '58 NFL championship game (Colts over Giants) and Super Bowl 3 (Jets over Colts) Both games had different teams winning but the same winning head coach. Weeb Ewbank
Their predecessor the Dayton Triangles played the first ever NFL game and their next stop as the Brooklyn football Dodgers saw them play the first ever televised NFL game vs the Eagles. The Colts franchise won all of these games. They’re also the first franchise to have a black head coach win a title. They should be recognized as a founding franchise and Irsay knows it. They play just 117 miles west of Dayton now…
@@michaelleroy9281 Yes, The Baltimore Colts won the NFL Championship in 1958 and 1959, lost to the Cleveland Browns in 1964, but Baltimore Colts won it again against the Cleveland Browns in 1968.
Since I'm an old guy, and don't really follow football much anymore (I was a HUGE NFL fan in the 1970's), I still think of the Colts in terms of The Baltimore Colts. I even still catch myself calling them that during conversations! That's embarrassing!
Thank you for showing the REAL history of the Baltmore/Indy Colts that date back to the 1910's unlike the NFL itself. By the way, I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY (New York City) and knew about The Colts history when they was in Brooklyn.
As a Packers fan I can sympathize. The NFL loves to cash in on GB being the last of the Midwest town teams. Yet doesn't want to acknowledge anything that happened before the first Super Bowl.
@@KnightBoat Yeah I see that, because I do know that The Packers won a few NFL Championships in the early 1960s before The Superbowl even existed and the NFL hardly talk about those championships by Green Bay..
@@amazing50000 The Packers have 9 rings that pre-date the Super Bowl. The Giants have 4, for a total of 8. Yet these Patriots fans are running around like they have more rings than everyone SMH.
Was a BIG Baltimore Colts n Johnny Unitas fan during the 1960s, 1970s n beyond. Watched their originally broadcasted TV games ! Get back to ur winning days ! Was bummed out they secretively in the night skedaddled out of Baltimore !!! Kudos for upload. New subscriber because of this upload. Anticipating ur next one. Peace
I think I remember hearing that when the Colts won Super Bowl 41, That the city of Baltimore did congratulate the "Former Baltimore Colts" on winning the Super Bowl. I guess that because the Ravens already got their ring 6 years earlier, it was no hard feeling anymore
I have a friend who told me how he’s still a Colts fan even after they moved to Indiana. We are both in Iowa now and one time at a party he told me he was born and raised for 11 years in Baltimore, MD area. After his dad’s parents had died in the late 70’s, his mom wanted to move to Indiana to be near her family, she had 12 brothers and sisters and missed being around them. Meanwhile his dad only had one sister left who lived in Montana. So between Thanksgiving and New Years 1979 they packed up their stuff, sold their house, bought a new house and moved to Indianapolis, IN. He said that after years of having Orioles season tickets and going to all the Colts home games, it was a hard adjustment living near a major city with no pro-sports. He said the really hard part was walking out of his last game at Memorial Stadium, it was game 7 of the 1979 World Series with his dad. They had lost to the Pirates 4-1. They had lost three in a row after the Orioles had a 3 games to 1 lead. His last Colts game at Memorial Stadium was a 10-7 loss to the Chiefs that December. Him and his dad would go to Comiskey every summer to see the Orioles and went to Cincinnati a few times when the Colts were in town, but that was about it. So in 1984 when the Colts picked up and moved to his new home town, it was exciting. He told me thought the team should stay in Baltimore, but at least his favorite team would be in his backyard. He said until he went to medical school at the University of Iowa, he was at most of the Colts home games in Indianapolis. His dad still calls them the Baltimore Colts. He says Indianapolis sounds wrong.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I live in North Carolina but I agree the Indianapolis Colts doesn’t sound right, never has. They should’ve been made to change the name.
@@1notredamefightingirishfan12 Youre the one that is a Notre Dame fan, so if youre from Indiana, you would have a better idea than me. Colts is tied in to Maryland and the horse racing events (Preakness).
Hey Sports Historians! What did you think about the Colts leaving Baltimore? Would you still follow a team after they left? Let me know! **UPDATE** Apologies for the awkward cut around 6:10, the NFL issued a copyright notice on a clip that I used so I had to trim it out using the UA-cam editor. Sorry about that!
St. Louis had to suffer through two of the worst NFL owners in history - Bill Bidwell (St. Louis Cardinals) and Stan Kroenke (St. Louis Rams). Both teams had originally relocated to St. Louis from previous cities (Chicago Cardinals) and (Cleveland Dons / Los Angeles Rams). After finding a new home in St. Louis, Bidwell moved the Cardinals to Arizona where they became the Arizona Cardinals. The Rams, after relocating to St. Louis where they played in two Super Bowls, were moved back to LA by Kroenke - a native born Missourian! If St. Louis ever gets another shot at having an NFL team, it would be best for the city to get an expansion franchise that could be constructed using the Green Bay Packers model where the team is community owned. That way you wouldn't have to worry about a greedy or incompetent owner that has the power to take your franchise away.
As a blues fan I think it’s fair to say kroenke did to the city of stl what both bob irsay and art model did to the cities of Cleveland and Baltimore. He took the teams name and colors after they won their first superbowl. Then he turned around and 5 years later won one in la and left the city of stl 10+ years with out a team. But then again Georgia frontier did almost the exact same thing to La. Kind of an interesting comparrison to art and Bob.
As an Indy colts fan I kind of wish we’d get an mls team (even though I don’t watch soccer). At least then we could est a rival with stl and make a case for the jags to move there. Just like Chicago did when stl got the blues with the cubs cards rival. Since location wise it makes all the sense in the world.
Correction: It’s the Cleveland Rams not the Dons. The Dons are in Los Angeles when they played for the old AAFC. When the AAFC folded, the Dons are folded instead the Cleveland Browns and the San Francisco 49ers joined the NFL after the 1949 season.
Excellent presentation, but one small addendum: The Colts actually began as the Miami Seahawks, an AAFC team that began play in Florida in 1946 but ultimately went bankrupt. The league seized control of the franchise and it assets were bought by a group of D.C. entrepreneurs who reorganized it and moved the team to Baltimore. Baltimore was initially scheduled to field a franchise in the league's inaugural season, but its prospective owner, former heavyweight boxing champion Gene Tunney, was unable to secure a stadium deal. Like their Baltimore baseball counterparts, the Orioles, the Colts' history and lineage is a long and convoluted one. After their ownership went bankrupt in their only NFL season in 1950, all of the Colts players were tossed into that year's draft (including future Hall of Famer Y.A. Tittle) with the current college crop of players. Likewise, the Orioles only link to the the old 19th-century National League Orioles is the name. I won't go into all of those details here, but the current franchise that can directly trace its roots to those old Orioles is the New York Yankees.
The NFL did not appear to want to expand into Baltimore until the CFL franchise came in with great success in 1994 and 1995. I always wondered if that team helped spark the move from Cleveland to Baltimore by Model.
I firmly believe what you said is true.....After having the Baltimore fans show up to fill the stadium every week..... Even having Wild Bill Hagey up in the stands doing the C-O-L-T-S chants ..... It caught the NFL's eye
No. Paul Tagliabue was the NFL commissioner. He was a snob lawyer from Washington and he had no use for Baltimore. Jack Kent Cooke owned the Redskins and he wanted no part of a new team in Baltimore. The Maryland Stadium Authority made an offer to Art Modell that he could not refuse.
There was pro football in Baltimore in 1994-5 via the CFL (When CFL had their CFL in the USA experiment which is another story for another time). The Baltimore CFL team was going to be called the Colts but due to legal issues they couldn't be called the Colts but for the 1995 season, they were called the Baltimore Stallons and became the 1st (and only) US based team to win the CFL's Grey Cup.
Had to rewatch this video. I like these kind of content, I you can make more videos like this I would greatly appreciate it. Some selections The San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Oakland Athletics(Though they haven't moved to Las Vegas yet).
- Even though I love the Ravens, I wish the "have to leave the name and the history if you leave" rule was around then. - Baltimore also had a USFL team and CFL team, both of which won championships (along with the Colts and the Ravens). -Trivia: What was the proposed name of the expansion team Baltimore tried to get in 1995?
Elway refusing to sign or be drafted by The Colts pretty much sealed their fate. Moreover, Irsay(sp?) starred shopping the team around as soon as the 80s began. Please do the Montreal Expos and Vancouver Grizzlies when you get the chance.
I am a lifelong Colts fan. After the Elway incident a friend of mine who wrote letters to me started writing "No way, Irsay!" on the front of the envelope as a cartoon-like voice bubble coming from whoever happened to be on the stamp.
Indiana here, I say "Go Colts! and take the Pacers with you. Used to be the Zollner Pistons from Fort Wayne, moved to Detroit, mob deal, back in the day. Government is no friend. Hear an old mans warning.
@@thomasorzack5795 Technically they were tied for the best record, to give you a bit more perspective on this. But it was when there was only 4 divisions in the NFL(pre merger) and they were tied with the Rams in the Coastal division with 11-1-2 records. I assume the Rams had the better head-to-head record between the two teams. But this is exactly why you need wild cards in sports.
First ever NFL game they won at Triangle Park vs Columbus Panhandles. First ever televised game they won vs the Eagles. 1958 title game rocketed the NFL into the stratosphere. First black head coach to win a title. The NFL should give them their records back to the beginning IMO.
As a kid in the 50's I had a 45rpm record with the last few minutes of that Championship Game on one side and the Colts Theme song on the other. The label on it was from National Bohemian Beer. I don't know what happened to it over the years but it's long gone. I bet it would be worth something now.. It took several years and there were a couple games from I think it was a CFL team and another team I remember as the Baltimore Stars or something. Finally we got the Ravens with the NFL expansion but I still have those memories of the Original Baltimore Colts.
On one hand, Irsay was a dick, and the apple didn't fall far from the tree with his son. On the other hand, the state did try to take his team from him and didn't want to help with a new stadium. So it's kinda like a stuck between a tsunami and erupting volcano situation
I don't agree. Maryland did all it could to appease the lying alcoholics, but how can a sane, sober person really do that? Imminent Domain worked in Oakland, as noted on this video. I cannot blame the State here.
The endgame was always to get the Triangles as close to Dayton in a bigger city as possible. Indianapolis is just 117 miles to the west of Triangle Park, where the Colts franchise played the first ever APFA (now NFL) game.
I'm a Rams fan and I continued to be after they were stolen away by that worthless dust-bowl St. Louis, never giving up hope that that travesty would be set right, and my beloved Rams would one day return home. The thing that irritated me the most was the rhetoric used by St. Louis about how "their team was stolen away from them" and that the NFL didn't care about them as fans. They had no problem stealing a team, but they were up in arms when it happened to them. But now that that wrong has been made right the rest is history and God willing, the LA Rams will win their first Super Bowl at home this season.
You made a mistake..... At 12:45 you said Irsay called the head of Mayflower.... Indianapolis Mayor Hudnut was a neighbor of the head of Mayflower and he's the one that called him. Great video though.
This move to Indy was so subtle that an exhibition game between the Bears and the Bills was scheduled for week four (the final week) of the pre season which still went on as scheduled. I dont know if the 1984 Colts got to play any preseason games in Indianapolis that year (a la the 1995 St. Louis Rams which just moved that year).
@@AllSportsHistory And also the fact both the Chargers and Raiders played in LA. And then LA was for 21 years the only major city that did not have an NFL team.
@@AllSportsHistory And as a result quite a few teams tried to use Los Angeles as leverage to get a new stadium in there existing market. Along with the fact there were several stadiums proposals in the Los Angeles metropolitan area that included Downtown LA, City of Industry, Carson, Dodger Stadium Parking Lot, and Orange County.
I was born SEVERAL decades after the Colts moved to Indianapolis. But I did have a few relatives who were lifelong Colts fans. Who said they cried for hours when the team abandoned Baltimore. Because it felt like they’d lost a family member.
If the Colts had a chance to move back with a different owner but had to lose the Ravens? That would be so hard because the Ravens Organization is top notch.
@@boogitybear2283 as a Ravens fan the colts can stay where they're at they can go to west Virginia but Baltimore is Ravens territory better team, better franchise, and better colors to
It's funny how these cities lose their teams like the oilers and colts due to businessmen wanting newer better stadiums and the teams leave and the cities are mad so they build new stadiums and get new teams when all they had to do was give in the first place
Excellent video. Please fill in the gap between the Colts leaving Baltimore and the (Browns) Ravens coming to Baltimore with the USFL suit against the NFL and the proposed Baltimore Stars who played at Byrd Stadium UMCP in the early 80s.
Another fact that was not mentioned. After the Colts left and city tried to get an expansion teami it was the Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke who did everything he could to keep Baltimore from getting one. He didn't want to lose the fan base he picked up after the Colts lefted.
I know that the move also was a life changing experience for Bob Irsay as him & former mayor Bill Hudnutt became best friends till the very end. Hudnut helped Irsay change his life and Hudnut was next to Irsay when he passed.
Given that Baltimore was attempting to strip Irsay of his franchise, I'm not surprised they moved in such fashion. Never knew an Eminent Domain bill was even allowed to exist in the States
See you never hear that part when they talk about the Colts move. They just always talk about ohhh they moved in the middle of the night. I would’ve hauled ass out of town too.
I feel you, I'm from LA and we lost two teams at the same time in the '90's and now the Rams and the Chargers (originally from LA in the 1960's) are back again. But yeah, I just can't follow a team that left like that.
I'm glad you had the imminent domain story which local reporters seem to gloss over all the time. Baltimore didn't get a team until Schaefer was out of the political picture.
My dad was a colts fan growing up and was devastated when they left, not because they left Baltimore but because of how they did it. They moved cities in the middle of the night, which he saw as cowardly.
I remember that midnight move. I always thought it was a chickensh*t move on the part of the club. I didn't know about their history, all the different cities the team played in until settling in Baltimore. Cool stuff.
When the Colts left for Indy, Johnny Unitas and several Colts alumni cut all ties with the team, and Unitas lobbied for years afterward trying to get an NFL team back in Baltimore. It's part of why #19 is unofficially retired for the Ravens, and there's a statue of Unitas outside M&T Bank Stadium.
I'm from Maryland and remember it vividly. Started following the Pittsburg Steelers (did not like the Redskins) and did so until the Ravens started in '96. There was a few years that the CFL stallions played in Baltimore and won the Grey Cup (CFL Championship. The Stallions were the ONLY non-canadian team to ever win it. Started following the Baltimore Colts in '56 (Yeah, I'm THAT old) and got to see Unitas, Marchetti, Donovan, Moor, Beery and Ameche play. Also saw Jones, Carr, Bubba (Smith), and Mitchell play at 33rd Street (Memorial Stadium) Was at the CGL Stallions Suother Division Championship at Memorial when the Stallions Won 21-7...on 7 field goals, beating the Texas team. So, yeah, the Colts leaving was a sore spot and was happy to see the Ravens win a super Bowl, before the departed Colts.
I was a teenager in Maryland when all of this occurred. Immediately began rooting against the Colts, but over time it has diminished. I even pulled for them the year they won the Super Bowl, but because of other factors like Peyton Manning and Tony Dungee.
I grew up in Baltimore as a Colts fan. The move to Indianapolis represents an incredible treachery. I want the team that plays in Indianapolis to go 7-9 every year -- miss the playoffs, but don't do badly enough to get a really good draft choice. What happened with Andrew Luck was industrial strength Karma as the Indianapolis team intentionally played to lose the year before to get the first draft choice. And, of course, no punishment.
As an indy colts fan i kidna support this stance actually. While baltimore really did make some awful moves in terms of keeping the team, i place a vast majority of the blame on bob irsay. I also think that irsay could have saved at least a tiny bit of PR by re naming the franchise while moving, and i think indianapolis would have appreciated a team name honoring our place in racing history.
@@mconley600 seriously. Have you ever seen how when the Ravens play the Colts in Baltimore, they will show Indy instead of the team name on the scoreboard like every other team gets. Bet the Browns don't get that treatment...
Was it just a coincidence that the Hoosier Dome seats were blue? One has to wonder. I personally believe Irsay had his eye on Indianapolis when the Hoosier Dome was under construction.
Teams have been moving since the beginning, but the Baltimore Colts were the second modern day era move after TV / after the NFL was a well established league, but nobody in the media outside of Baltimore seemed to care much about what happened to Baltimore. Nobody cared that an owner took a storied franchise like the Baltimore Colts and purposely ruined it, to justify a move out of town. And it It was all pre-arranged. The final nail was when Elway didnt want to play for the drunk Irsay. He was known as a horrible drunk owner low on cash and why the stadium excuse had to be used instead. The Internet wasn't around either and only when another storied franchise moved a short time later in '96 and with the internet now in existence was there enough noise heard for the Browns to at least keep their name and records. And the Browns move to Baltimore was pre-arranged too- Modell and Lerner were old pals and on the plane when the deal was done. Baltimore shouldve gotten an expansion team in '95 instead, but the NFL click made sure their TV boy Modell got the golden parachute from Baltimore, because Baltimore would be where the NFL could find him the most money. We (The fans) didnt want someones team from another city that lost theirs undeservingly like what happened to us undeservingly. We deserved and wanted an expansion team in '95. Anyhow, Irsay shouldve left the name in Baltimore regardless when he took the team to Indy in '84, so that we couldve just picked back up with the Colts name in '96 and from true expansion only. Not from being forced to provide a golden parachute to a broke NFL old timer who pulled a dirty move on his city, Cleveland. So anyway, the Indy Racers or some dinosaur name wouldve been a good name for the Indy team and they couldve started their own legacy from scratch in '84. You think they liked being associated with the Colts name after knowing all that storied history did not take place in their City? And why the heck would Bourbon Bob Irsay care? I know the Drunk tried to charge was it 25 million for Baltimore to buy the Colts name back? Everything to him was only about money, like all the rest of these owners. I do not live far from the many horse ranches and horse farms still here in Maryland and of course with the Preakness being in Maryland, the name fits and both the name and records belong here. If teams move, just leave the name at least. These owners not leaving the names just shows you how they really couldnt care less about fans. It should be standard practice. The Arizona Cardinals? Really? I still cannot get used to that one.
Yeah, I think Irsay was probably right to ignore Birmingham. It's a smaller market that is college football crazed. Not saying an NFL team wouldn't work there, but I'm not sure the locals there will care if the Colts had moved there.
@@WDI2008 For sure, I just don’t think the NFL would seriously go there. Too many other places they would consider first, especially today since the NFL is obsessed with expanding the leagues global reach.
Exactly, and there’s west coast cities too. I’ve always thought it would be cool to have a team in Portland to be a natural rival to Seattle. There’s also Sacramento, Oakland, San Diego, and St. Louis.
Ive had a few scares with my team moving, most recently to Toronto, and Ive always said if my Bills move I will not follow them, because it wont be the same team. The city is the true identity of a team, not the name and colors (and in the Bills case theyd have to change those too as Bills doesnt fit with any city except Buffalo- its a play on the name Buffalo Bill)
You missed the part where Irsay purposely ran the team into the ground so he’d have an excuse to move the Colts. In that expansion, only Charlotte and Baltimore 1 and Baltimore 2 came to the table with their homework ready. Charlotte was awarded on franchise. Meanwhile, Memphis and Jacksonville weren’t ready. They were told to come back in two weeks to make their pitches. The two Baltimore bidders were asked to combine their bids and were also invited to return in two weeks. Which they did. Jacksonville of course got their franchise and when the combined Baltimore team complained, Tagliabue saw fit to insult Baltimoreceven further. First he told them that they should take their money and build some libraries. Then he told them that the NFL was not in the business of expanding into failed markets. If they wanted a team, perhaps Baltimore could get a team the way other cities had. You know, like Indianapolis did. Nice. Art Modell, a member of the expansion committee, saw what Baltimore and Maryland were offering. He took that proposal to the city of Cleveland asking for something similar. They told him there was no money to build a new stadium but here’s some money for “upgrades” to the ancient cavernous Municipal Stadium. Modell, unlike Irsay, at least had the grace to give the mayor Cleveland notice and did not sneak out in the middle of the night in a snowstorm. After the move was made, outrage swept the country. Even President Clinton put in his two cents. The result was that the NFL expanded into the failed market that was Cleveland even helping them build a new stadium and vilifying Baltimore for grabbing the Browns away like other cities had to get their teams. You know like Indianapolis and St Louis. They let Indianapolis keep all the Colts records and memorabilia and they let Cleveland keep all the Browns records and memorabilia. Two big middle fingers to Baltimore. Then, when Houston Oilers moved to Tennessee, they once again expanded into a failed market and created the Texans. They did not tell Houston to get a team the way other cities did like, you know, Indianapolis. So you missed a big part of the insulting way the NFL treated one of their premier cities, one that pretty much put them in the map in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Baltimore City born and raised. I do understand that they may be sold and moved but this was so dirty way to treat the City and fans to move in middle of the night! I don't know any City treated this way and I hope no one was. It was confusing because we didn't know where the Team went. Our Team was stolen in the middle of the night!!
You wanna hear something really funny? The Broncos have won more super bowls with Colts quarterbacks than Indy has, and Baltimore has won twice as many super bowls in Iess time than the colts needed to win one.
NFL had the Move of the Baltimore Colts to Indy worked out long before anyone would care to believe is my guess and that would be due to all the propaganda people believed during the move.
Now Green Bays situation is a little different only because it was grandfathered in but I would make this the model for future franchises going forward.
I thought it was disgusting with how the Colts moved. I have seen a team go fron just missing a championship, with that same team moving to another city. I watched this team and loved the team. I wanted to learn how to ice skate at one point to try and make it big with this team. Did they change the colors or logo with the newly found Dallas Stata, at least not for awhile. I then despised and hated the Dallas Stars, and I then moved my main team to the Pittsburgh Penguins who just happened to be the team done at the Minnesota North Stars in 1991. I will cheer for the Wild but they are not my number 1 team. That stays with Pittsburgh, but they are my number 2 team in the NHL.
It’s not mentioned but Irsay came to Jacksonville also. Landed his helicopter in the old gator bowl. There were Jacksonville Colts signs and all 😩😂😂The city was trying to lure the franchise here and teams often toyed with Jacksonville and used us as a bargaining chip. The Oilers did the same thing to is. So I don’t think it was so surprising that Jacksonville got a team eventually. The NFL was well aware of Jacksonville
Good video. I recall those days while still a Baltimore Colt fan. One thing to add. I think the Baltimore Evening Sun Paper the night of the move stated on the front page " Colts Staying" and then to wake the next day to the Sun printing " Colts Gone". The Ursey family name in Baltimore is still "mud". We got some of our dignity back when the Urseys refused to pay Manning his $28mil bonus. Payton moved to Denver where he won the Super Bowl that year.
baltimore colt fans have no one to blame but the city for not working hard enough to get “their” team a stadium. and then they tried to take someone else’s property cause he threatened to move.
I’m a Patriots fan and I live in Florida. I was born and raised in Massachusetts. I’m not sure what I would do if the Patriots moved. I don’t live in New England anymore so I shouldn’t care if they move but as a die hard Boston fan I’m not sure if I would support them if they moved outside of New England.
Not sure how old you are but it almost happened in the early 90's. James Busch Orthwein bought the team from Victor Kiam and had every intention of moving them to St. Louis. Bob Kraft owned the Foxboro Stadium at the time and wouldn't let Orthwein get out of the stadium lease. Orthwein ended up selling to Kraft.
@@indianapatsfan Yeah. That happened before I was born. They also planned on moving to Connecticut which would’ve been fine as long as they keep name New England.
I grew up just north of Indy. It was a great time to live in central Indiana. They played their first game as Ind. Colts on my 13th birthday. I was thrilled. Sorry Baltimore, but at least the Ravens have been great for you.
An owner who was more personable and knew how to work with politicians would have been able to have gotten a new stadium built but Robert Irsay was not that person. The city of Baltimore is a lot to blame for the Colts leaving. Question P got the ball rolling with the Colts leaving and Eminent Domain was what sealed the deal.
Maybe you should meet me! I have been a Colts fan since 1964 (my 4th grade), my cousin Tom Matte was the running back in those glorious years. I met the Colts in the lobby of the Saddle River NJ Marriott in 1968 when they came to play the NY Giants. Got a lot of autographs -- wish I still had them! I was a fan before Peyton Manning was born. I stayed with them even after the move to Indianapolis. The old Colts' hatred for Indy was more against Robert Irsay then against Indy. But Indy (or Irsay?) did the old timers no favors, for example, by simply ignoring them for Old Timers' Day and similar events? What kind of idiot would willingly refuse to invite Johhny U, Tom Matte, Bubba Smith, John Mackey, et al?
@@niccols415 I dont personally blame people that "stick" for a payheck, but your post illustrates exaclty why the Colts name should been laid to rest for 12 years with those old players and revived with them once Baltimore was granted a new team. Its not only about the fans, its the players too. Who in the h*ll in Indy wants to be associated with some other Cities gloried footbal history? NFL is stupid.
Baltimore literally pushed the Colts out of the city by the way they acted. I dont get why old fans are so pissed at the Colts when their hand was literally forced.
Yeah I have to agree, usually the owner tends to be the “greedy, rich guy” who asks for a hand out from the city and fans to pay for a new stadium. While Irsay was looking for help, the city was unusually uncooperative and at times hostile to both the Colts and Orioles over their needs for a new stadium.
Simply false. The city was quite willing to support the team. The city was, perhaps, spoiled by Carroll Rosenbloom as an owner. However, Robert Irsay is probably the worst owner in the history of the NFL. The city of Baltimore didn't want to support Irsay.
@JBSptfn My understanding is that the old NFL owners ragged on Rosenbloom mercilessly after the Colts laid an egg against the Jets in SB III. I had understood that was a significant factor in his wanting to get out of Baltimore. Of course, any true Colts fan of that era knows why it is that if the Colts had been wearing white uniforms instead of blue, the outcome of SBIII might have been very different.
@@NeilLup Exactly. Irsay left Baltimore no choice but to distrust him, not the other way around. Idiots who didn't live in Baltimore always think they know better. To back up your assessment of irsay being the worst owner ever, witness his spiteful moves.....all of them. This is why mentally ill alcoholics with childish personalities have no business owning a professional team.
Irsay screwed over Baltimore and left in the middle of the night. I doubt too many people use Mayflower in the Baltimore area when they move. At least the Ravens did the right thing and left the Browns name and history behind.
They didn't want to do the right thing. Modell tried to take the Browns name with him to Baltimore. The only reason he didn't was because the city filed a lawsuit against him and the NFL, citing the lease requiring the Browns to play in Cleveland until 1998. The NFL knew that Cleveland had all the leverage and would win an injunction if allowed to progress to trial, so the league ordered Modell to leave the name, colors and history in Cleveland as a condition for being allowed to go to Baltimore. Baltimore could not do the same; the Colts had been operating on a one-year lease each year since the late 1970s. Ravens fans have been attempting to whitewash Modell's actions by claiming "he did the right thing and left the name" for a quarter-century, in part to make themselves feel better about how they got their current team. But make no mistake, Modell was every bit as bad as Irsay, and in some ways, he was actually worse.
@@jessesantiago4584 the agreement was wroked out before it was made public and model had no intention of keeping the name Browns in Baltimore. NFL would not have allowed it either.
so i wasnt around for the colts rise and downfall but my dad was around for their first super bowl he was 4 at the time and he was around to see them crash and burn after burt jones broke his shoulder in a preseason game in 1977 he told me that the day the colts moved was the first time he’d seen his father cry i agree with Johnny U and some of the other colt legends they played for BALTIMORE not indianapolis and they deserve to have their records history etc be baltimore in current day 2022 the orioles (im a diehard btw) arent so good hopefully we are in a year or so, they could move to nashville if thats the case the mlb needs to either force their hand and stop them or retire the team and keep the history in baltimore, just my opinion
I watch football and don’t care who plays who on a Sunday afternoon. Living in SC, I am in Panthers country but sometimes get Falcons maybe. Get the Jaguars on the radio. Colts or Ravens I don’t care just as long as there is football.
Just imagine if the browns left cleveland for the Hoosier dome? They would've been the Indianapolis browns, and played on astroturf. Both sound so wrong
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Fun fact: the Colts moving from Baltimore left a wound so deep that, after the Ravens formed and the Colts started returning to Baltimore regularly to play, the name "Colts" would not be officially used until around the 2010s. Every other team had their team name displayed on the scoreboard, but when the Colts visited, they'd only be shown as "Indy," and in pregame, they were introduced as the "Indianapolis professional football team."
That’s crazy, I didn’t know that! Good fun fact there.
Imagine if they would have been in the same division lol
What about then the Browns came to town. ;)
As a Redskins fan, I still remember the foggy day the Colts left Baltimore. I couldn't believe it. Dem Hoes/Owners ain't loyal..
@@agrofindastation Cleveland got to keep their team name, colors, and history; they have little to complain about
Great job on the history. I was a child when the Colts left but I can remember it like it was yesterday. As a former member of the Colts/ Ravens matching band before and after the Ravens came into being I can tell you the marching band also played a massive role in getting the local and state government's opinions to change on building a new stadium. The band also was an ambassador for the city playing at other NFL games to try and convince the NFL we wanted a franchise. Art Modell was very moved by the band's dedication to the sport and to Baltimore, so much so that he ensured they would remain and be renamed the Marching Ravens. Thus, I would argue that nobody worked harder to get a new team than the band president John Ziemann, the same man who "took the band uniforms to get washed." He deserves to have his place in Baltimore football history as well.
Amazing fact. The two games that gave the NFL a quantum leap forward in popularity were the '58 NFL championship game (Colts over Giants) and Super Bowl 3 (Jets over Colts) Both games had different teams winning but the same winning head coach. Weeb Ewbank
Week Eubanks was raised in Indiana.
Their predecessor the Dayton Triangles played the first ever NFL game and their next stop as the Brooklyn football Dodgers saw them play the first ever televised NFL game vs the Eagles. The Colts franchise won all of these games. They’re also the first franchise to have a black head coach win a title. They should be recognized as a founding franchise and Irsay knows it. They play just 117 miles west of Dayton now…
One more Amazing fact: The two cities: albeit with different teams, played in Super Bowl 35, where the Baltimore Ravens beat the New York Giants 34-7
In 1959 it was Colts over the Giants again
@@michaelleroy9281 Yes, The Baltimore Colts won the NFL Championship in 1958 and 1959, lost to the Cleveland Browns in 1964, but Baltimore Colts won it again against the Cleveland Browns in 1968.
Since I'm an old guy, and don't really follow football much anymore (I was a HUGE NFL fan in the 1970's), I still think of the Colts in terms of The Baltimore Colts. I even still catch myself calling them that during conversations! That's embarrassing!
I'm also old school and still call them the Baltimore Colts. Indianapolis still sounds weird to me.
Not it's not embarrassing sir. I myself now and then call the Chargers from San Diego.
@@alonenjerseyYou're not the only one!
And I'll forever call Cleveland's MLB team the :"Indians."@@bgraham928
Thank you for showing the REAL history of the Baltmore/Indy Colts that date back to the 1910's unlike the NFL itself. By the way, I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY (New York City) and knew about The Colts history when they was in Brooklyn.
As a Packers fan I can sympathize. The NFL loves to cash in on GB being the last of the Midwest town teams. Yet doesn't want to acknowledge anything that happened before the first Super Bowl.
@@KnightBoat Yeah I see that, because I do know that The Packers won a few NFL Championships in the early 1960s before The Superbowl even existed and the NFL hardly talk about those championships by Green Bay..
@@amazing50000 The Packers have 9 rings that pre-date the Super Bowl. The Giants have 4, for a total of 8. Yet these Patriots fans are running around like they have more rings than everyone SMH.
@@KnightBoat Right.
Actually that team went bankrupt and was dissolved during the season and another franchise was awarded the following year.
Was a BIG Baltimore Colts n Johnny Unitas fan during the 1960s, 1970s n beyond. Watched their originally broadcasted TV games ! Get back to ur winning days ! Was bummed out they secretively in the night skedaddled
out of Baltimore !!! Kudos for upload. New subscriber because of this upload. Anticipating ur next one. Peace
I think I remember hearing that when the Colts won Super Bowl 41, That the city of Baltimore did congratulate the "Former Baltimore Colts" on winning the Super Bowl. I guess that because the Ravens already got their ring 6 years earlier, it was no hard feeling anymore
I have a friend who told me how he’s still a Colts fan even after they moved to Indiana. We are both in Iowa now and one time at a party he told me he was born and raised for 11 years in Baltimore, MD area. After his dad’s parents had died in the late 70’s, his mom wanted to move to Indiana to be near her family, she had 12 brothers and sisters and missed being around them. Meanwhile his dad only had one sister left who lived in Montana. So between Thanksgiving and New Years 1979 they packed up their stuff, sold their house, bought a new house and moved to Indianapolis, IN. He said that after years of having Orioles season tickets and going to all the Colts home games, it was a hard adjustment living near a major city with no pro-sports. He said the really hard part was walking out of his last game at Memorial Stadium, it was game 7 of the 1979 World Series with his dad. They had lost to the Pirates 4-1. They had lost three in a row after the Orioles had a 3 games to 1 lead. His last Colts game at Memorial Stadium was a 10-7 loss to the Chiefs that December. Him and his dad would go to Comiskey every summer to see the Orioles and went to Cincinnati a few times when the Colts were in town, but that was about it. So in 1984 when the Colts picked up and moved to his new home town, it was exciting. He told me thought the team should stay in Baltimore, but at least his favorite team would be in his backyard. He said until he went to medical school at the University of Iowa, he was at most of the Colts home games in Indianapolis. His dad still calls them the Baltimore Colts. He says Indianapolis sounds wrong.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I live in North Carolina but I agree the Indianapolis Colts doesn’t sound right, never has. They should’ve been made to change the name.
@@ronniesouthern7829 what does sound right then?
@@1notredamefightingirishfan12 Youre the one that is a Notre Dame fan, so if youre from Indiana, you would have a better idea than me. Colts is tied in to Maryland and the horse racing events (Preakness).
@@ronniesouthern7829 Baltimore Colts doesn't sound right
@@ronniesouthern7829 Indianapolis Colts sounds right to me
Hey Sports Historians! What did you think about the Colts leaving Baltimore? Would you still follow a team after they left? Let me know!
**UPDATE**
Apologies for the awkward cut around 6:10, the NFL issued a copyright notice on a clip that I used so I had to trim it out using the UA-cam editor. Sorry about that!
Thanks man! Been waiting for this for a while. Keep up with these videos.
No problem! Thanks for waiting, I appreciate it!!
@Patrick Colon That’s ride or die stuff, love it.
Do videos on some CFL teams. A lot of historical stories in the Canadian Football League
It led to Art Modell betraying Cleveland (not bitter at all)
St. Louis had to suffer through two of the worst NFL owners in history - Bill Bidwell (St. Louis Cardinals) and Stan Kroenke (St. Louis Rams). Both teams had originally relocated to St. Louis from previous cities (Chicago Cardinals) and (Cleveland Dons / Los Angeles Rams). After finding a new home in St. Louis, Bidwell moved the Cardinals to Arizona where they became the Arizona Cardinals. The Rams, after relocating to St. Louis where they played in two Super Bowls, were moved back to LA by Kroenke - a native born Missourian!
If St. Louis ever gets another shot at having an NFL team, it would be best for the city to get an expansion franchise that could be constructed using the Green Bay Packers model where the team is community owned. That way you wouldn't have to worry about a greedy or incompetent owner that has the power to take your franchise away.
That would be sooper smart, as would spell "super" correctly. I think the NFL has said a situation will not be repeated.
As a blues fan I think it’s fair to say kroenke did to the city of stl what both bob irsay and art model did to the cities of Cleveland and Baltimore. He took the teams name and colors after they won their first superbowl. Then he turned around and 5 years later won one in la and left the city of stl 10+ years with out a team. But then again Georgia frontier did almost the exact same thing to La. Kind of an interesting comparrison to art and Bob.
Oh yeah btw both the cities of Baltimore and Cleveland got a much much bettter chance to keep their team then stl did.
As an Indy colts fan I kind of wish we’d get an mls team (even though I don’t watch soccer). At least then we could est a rival with stl and make a case for the jags to move there. Just like Chicago did when stl got the blues with the cubs cards rival. Since location wise it makes all the sense in the world.
Correction: It’s the Cleveland Rams not the Dons. The Dons are in Los Angeles when they played for the old AAFC. When the AAFC folded, the Dons are folded instead the Cleveland Browns and the San Francisco 49ers joined the NFL after the 1949 season.
Excellent presentation, but one small addendum: The Colts actually began as the Miami Seahawks, an AAFC team that began play in Florida in 1946 but ultimately went bankrupt. The league seized control of the franchise and it assets were bought by a group of D.C. entrepreneurs who reorganized it and moved the team to Baltimore.
Baltimore was initially scheduled to field a franchise in the league's inaugural season, but its prospective owner, former heavyweight boxing champion Gene Tunney, was unable to secure a stadium deal.
Like their Baltimore baseball counterparts, the Orioles, the Colts' history and lineage is a long and convoluted one. After their ownership went bankrupt in their only NFL season in 1950, all of the Colts players were tossed into that year's draft (including future Hall of Famer Y.A. Tittle) with the current college crop of players. Likewise, the Orioles only link to the the old 19th-century National League Orioles is the name. I won't go into all of those details here, but the current franchise that can directly trace its roots to those old Orioles is the New York Yankees.
The NFL did not appear to want to expand into Baltimore until the CFL franchise came in with great success in 1994 and 1995. I always wondered if that team helped spark the move from Cleveland to Baltimore by Model.
I firmly believe what you said is true.....After having the Baltimore fans show up to fill the stadium every week.....
Even having Wild Bill Hagey up in the stands doing the C-O-L-T-S chants .....
It caught the NFL's eye
No. Paul Tagliabue was the NFL commissioner. He was a snob lawyer from Washington and he had no use for Baltimore. Jack Kent Cooke owned the Redskins and he wanted no part of a new team in Baltimore.
The Maryland Stadium Authority made an offer to Art Modell that he could not refuse.
There was pro football in Baltimore in 1994-5 via the CFL (When CFL had their CFL in the USA experiment which is another story for another time). The Baltimore CFL team was going to be called the Colts but due to legal issues they couldn't be called the Colts but for the 1995 season, they were called the Baltimore Stallons and became the 1st (and only) US based team to win the CFL's Grey Cup.
They are the only american expansion team to have survived, as They bécame the second iteration of the Montréal Alouettes
Had to rewatch this video. I like these kind of content, I you can make more videos like this I would greatly appreciate it. Some selections The San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Oakland Athletics(Though they haven't moved to Las Vegas yet).
That is the wildest story, great video
Thank you, appreciate it!
@@AllSportsHistoryI’m Sure If U Were a Baltimore Football Fan at The Time U Either Had To Root For The Then Redskins or Not Watch Football Until 1996!
Bert Jones was as important as a Colts quarterback in Baltimore as Andrew Luck 🤞 & Peyton Manning in Indianapolis.
@All Sports History The City of Baltimore Loved The Colts A lot and My Dad Was a Colts Fan Before Becoming a Eagles Fan!
- Even though I love the Ravens, I wish the "have to leave the name and the history if you leave" rule was around then.
- Baltimore also had a USFL team and CFL team, both of which won championships (along with the Colts and the Ravens).
-Trivia: What was the proposed name of the expansion team Baltimore tried to get in 1995?
“Baltimore Bombers” ....that would have been an unfortunate name lol.
@@AllSportsHistory You should do a video about the USFL actually.
@@WDI2008 Oh for sure, so many good players came out of the USFL - Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Reggie White, lot's of great history to cover there.
@@AllSportsHistory And don't forget Herschel Walker as well!
One name that was considered was "Rhinos". There was even a logo with a rhino on the helmet that sort of looked the buffalo on the Bills old helmets.
Elway refusing to sign or be drafted by The Colts pretty much sealed their fate. Moreover, Irsay(sp?) starred shopping the team around as soon as the 80s began. Please do the Montreal Expos and Vancouver Grizzlies when you get the chance.
Yeah, pretty much embarrassing for the Colts when Elway snubbed them. And for sure, Expos and Grizzlies are on my to do list!
elway is a BUM
@@koltzmike6470 A BUM who won 2 Super Bowls and played in a total of 5. Okay buddy, you might want to lay off of the Haterade.
It was exactly one year when Elway wouldn't sign to when they left town
I am a lifelong Colts fan. After the Elway incident a friend of mine who wrote letters to me started writing "No way, Irsay!" on the front of the envelope as a cartoon-like voice bubble coming from whoever happened to be on the stamp.
Indiana here, I say "Go Colts! and take the Pacers with you. Used to be the Zollner Pistons from Fort Wayne, moved to Detroit, mob deal, back in the day. Government is no friend. Hear an old mans warning.
Looking back at it the Colts have been one of the greatest franchises in NFL history.
Yes they were, until Irsay ran them into the ground
@@michaelleroy9281 They were good again when Peyton came to town.
1967 Colts had best record in league-did not make playoffs. Really
@@thomasorzack5795 Technically they were tied for the best record, to give you a bit more perspective on this. But it was when there was only 4 divisions in the NFL(pre merger) and they were tied with the Rams in the Coastal division with 11-1-2 records. I assume the Rams had the better head-to-head record between the two teams. But this is exactly why you need wild cards in sports.
First ever NFL game they won at Triangle Park vs Columbus Panhandles. First ever televised game they won vs the Eagles. 1958 title game rocketed the NFL into the stratosphere. First black head coach to win a title. The NFL should give them their records back to the beginning IMO.
10:28 Pete Rozelle was best known for feuding with Raiders owner Al Davis-The two men were constant frenemies.
I remember reading about the move in the following day's paper and I was floored. That was a day to remember, and I don't live in either city.
As a kid in the 50's I had a 45rpm record with the last few minutes of that Championship Game on one side and the Colts Theme song on the other. The label on it was from National Bohemian Beer. I don't know what happened to it over the years but it's long gone. I bet it would be worth something now.. It took several years and there were a couple games from I think it was a CFL team and another team I remember as the Baltimore Stars or something. Finally we got the Ravens with the NFL expansion but I still have those memories of the Original Baltimore Colts.
On one hand, Irsay was a dick, and the apple didn't fall far from the tree with his son. On the other hand, the state did try to take his team from him and didn't want to help with a new stadium. So it's kinda like a stuck between a tsunami and erupting volcano situation
That’s a good way to put it!
That's why the end result was best for both sides. Maryland is still a dick and Irsay Jr. followed his pops footsteps
I don't agree. Maryland did all it could to appease the lying alcoholics, but how can a sane, sober person really do that?
Imminent Domain worked in Oakland, as noted on this video.
I cannot blame the State here.
@@67marlins Yep, the owner can build his own damn stadium. Perhaps they'd think twice about moving.
Not a dick a drunk like his son
The endgame was always to get the Triangles as close to Dayton in a bigger city as possible. Indianapolis is just 117 miles to the west of Triangle Park, where the Colts franchise played the first ever APFA (now NFL) game.
I'm a Rams fan and I continued to be after they were stolen away by that worthless dust-bowl St. Louis, never giving up hope that that travesty would be set right, and my beloved Rams would one day return home. The thing that irritated me the most was the rhetoric used by St. Louis about how "their team was stolen away from them" and that the NFL didn't care about them as fans. They had no problem stealing a team, but they were up in arms when it happened to them. But now that that wrong has been made right the rest is history and God willing, the LA Rams will win their first Super Bowl at home this season.
The Colts aren't ever moving back to Baltimore.
You Fuckin jinxed it
@@dvferyance Fine, rename the Ravens, 'Hoosiers' and tell Indy to mail their complaints to my balls.
Some old people in Cleveland cant stand LA Rams is the way I figure it, since they were stolen from Cleveland.
You made a mistake..... At 12:45 you said Irsay called the head of Mayflower.... Indianapolis Mayor Hudnut was a neighbor of the head of Mayflower and he's the one that called him. Great video though.
I still miss the Baltimore Colts
This move to Indy was so subtle that an exhibition game between the Bears and the Bills was scheduled for week four (the final week) of the pre season which still went on as scheduled. I dont know if the 1984 Colts got to play any preseason games in Indianapolis that year (a la the 1995 St. Louis Rams which just moved that year).
15:41 Definitely a topic you need to cover the NFL in Los Angeles, California.
For sure that and the team sale and swap of the Rams all on the same day, crazy!
@@AllSportsHistory And also the fact both the Chargers and Raiders played in LA. And then LA was for 21 years the only major city that did not have an NFL team.
Yep all that too haha
@@AllSportsHistory And as a result quite a few teams tried to use Los Angeles as leverage to get a new stadium in there existing market. Along with the fact there were several stadiums proposals in the Los Angeles metropolitan area that included Downtown LA, City of Industry, Carson, Dodger Stadium Parking Lot, and Orange County.
Can’t wait to do a Raiders video about all the crazy stuff Al Davis got into with Oakland and the league haha.
I was born SEVERAL decades after the Colts moved to Indianapolis. But I did have a few relatives who were lifelong Colts fans. Who said they cried for hours when the team abandoned Baltimore. Because it felt like they’d lost a family member.
Best thing about the Colts leaving-The drunk Irsay family went with them.
If the Colts had a chance to move back with a different owner but had to lose the Ravens? That would be so hard because the Ravens Organization is top notch.
@@boogitybear2283 as a Ravens fan the colts can stay where they're at they can go to west Virginia but Baltimore is Ravens territory better team, better franchise, and better colors to
Damn straight. Ravens are far better in every aspect
It's funny how these cities lose their teams like the oilers and colts due to businessmen wanting newer better stadiums and the teams leave and the cities are mad so they build new stadiums and get new teams when all they had to do was give in the first place
Irsray was literally days from the city legally stealing the team so he did what anyone would and said fuck you will watch this and bam! He's gone
Excellent video. Please fill in the gap between the Colts leaving Baltimore and the (Browns) Ravens coming to Baltimore with the USFL suit against the NFL and the proposed Baltimore Stars who played at Byrd Stadium UMCP in the early 80s.
That is a great idea!
Another fact that was not mentioned. After the Colts left and city tried to get an expansion teami it was the Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke who did everything he could to keep Baltimore from getting one. He didn't want to lose the fan base he picked up after the Colts lefted.
Yup and Baltimore Didn’t Have a Team Until 1996 Which Was a Shame For Baltimore Football Fans From 1984 to 1996!
Plus the NFL did not want us to have a team. Paul Tagliabue still gets under my skin...
And as a result Jack Kent Cook would build FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland out of spite.
I know that the move also was a life changing experience for Bob Irsay as him & former mayor Bill Hudnutt became best friends till the very end. Hudnut helped Irsay change his life and Hudnut was next to Irsay when he passed.
Given that Baltimore was attempting to strip Irsay of his franchise, I'm not surprised they moved in such fashion. Never knew an Eminent Domain bill was even allowed to exist in the States
See you never hear that part when they talk about the Colts move. They just always talk about ohhh they moved in the middle of the night. I would’ve hauled ass out of town too.
A lot of people don’t realize that this franchise has moved all over the place since 1920.
Baltimore was in the right. Not Irsay. The team belongs to the people.
@@dwightschrute900 that‘s funny considering Irsay owned the team
@@BronchoKyle and he deserved to lose the team
Your videos are very interesting 👍 Could make one about the Blackhawks - Red Wings rivalry?
Yeah for sure! It might be a bit, but I’ll add it to my list!
@@AllSportsHistory It's not a rivalry anymore since they're in different conferences, they only play each other 2 times a year now
I miss RCA dome
Yep miss all the old dome stadiums! Like when the Metrodomes roof collapsed from too much snow, good times 👍
Watching this video did a good job explaining the moving vans….
Thanks, glad you appreciated the van talk!
@@AllSportsHistory I’ve Read About This on Google and Can’t Believe They Left in The Middle of The Night!
Trivia: The Preakness Stakes race is named for where the first winner came from: the Preakness section of Wayne, NJ.
"Would I still follow a football team if they left?" After getting stabbed in the chest twice I will say no, I am not an Oakland Raiders fan anymore.
I feel you, I'm from LA and we lost two teams at the same time in the '90's and now the Rams and the Chargers (originally from LA in the 1960's) are back again. But yeah, I just can't follow a team that left like that.
Yep. As soon as the Oilers left Houston I was like “bye Felicia”
When the Sonics left Seattle, I did not become an OKC Thunder fan lol. No way in hell
There is so much more to this then “if they left” and do you stop loving your favourite players to because they play for your now mortal enemy?
I'm glad you had the imminent domain story which local reporters seem to gloss over all the time. Baltimore didn't get a team until Schaefer was out of the political picture.
I remember the stunned feeling of losing the Atlanta Flames. No, I never rooted for Calgary for a second. I am now an Edmonton Oilers fan :)
My dad was a colts fan growing up and was devastated when they left, not because they left Baltimore but because of how they did it. They moved cities in the middle of the night, which he saw as cowardly.
That was way worse than when the Browns moved to Baltimore. I still say the Colts belong back to Baltimore.
@@boogitybear2283 Agreed, glad there are some intelligent people like you and Inday who posted.
@@boogitybear2283 interesting
I remember that midnight move. I always thought it was a chickensh*t move on the part of the club. I didn't know about their history, all the different cities the team played in until settling in Baltimore. Cool stuff.
When the Colts left for Indy, Johnny Unitas and several Colts alumni cut all ties with the team, and Unitas lobbied for years afterward trying to get an NFL team back in Baltimore. It's part of why #19 is unofficially retired for the Ravens, and there's a statue of Unitas outside M&T Bank Stadium.
That was an interesting question at the end of the video. That's one I'll never be able to answer, I'm from Green Bay and cheer for the Packers.
I'm from Maryland and remember it vividly. Started following the Pittsburg Steelers (did not like the Redskins) and did so until the Ravens started in '96. There was a few years that the CFL stallions played in Baltimore and won the Grey Cup (CFL Championship. The Stallions were the ONLY non-canadian team to ever win it. Started following the Baltimore Colts in '56 (Yeah, I'm THAT old) and got to see Unitas, Marchetti, Donovan, Moor, Beery and Ameche play. Also saw Jones, Carr, Bubba (Smith), and Mitchell play at 33rd Street (Memorial Stadium) Was at the CGL Stallions Suother Division Championship at Memorial when the Stallions Won 21-7...on 7 field goals, beating the Texas team. So, yeah, the Colts leaving was a sore spot and was happy to see the Ravens win a super Bowl, before the departed Colts.
“Seen here not knowing what to do with his hands” 😂😂😂😂
I am a Houston fan so I know the feeling...at least the NFL stepped in on the right side of history.
14:58 Blocked in part because then Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cook felt that Baltimore was considered his territory.
I was a teenager in Maryland when all of this occurred. Immediately began rooting against the Colts, but over time it has diminished. I even pulled for them the year they won the Super Bowl, but because of other factors like Peyton Manning and Tony Dungee.
You had me until dungee
@All Sports History One of The Most Shocking Moves in Sports History Bar None!
This one hurt my brain. 1913? Two separate colt entities? Crazy
13:17 The Band That Wouldn't Die
Still going strong, but as the “Marching Ravens”!
@@AllSportsHistory Yeah you should definitely do a video about the Baltimore Colts/Ravens Marching Band!
I grew up in Baltimore as a Colts fan. The move to Indianapolis represents an incredible treachery. I want the team that plays in Indianapolis to go 7-9 every year -- miss the playoffs, but don't do badly enough to get a really good draft choice. What happened with Andrew Luck was industrial strength Karma as the Indianapolis team intentionally played to lose the year before to get the first draft choice. And, of course, no punishment.
Oh but it’s ok to welcome a traitor like Art Modell get a life dude
As an indy colts fan i kidna support this stance actually. While baltimore really did make some awful moves in terms of keeping the team, i place a vast majority of the blame on bob irsay.
I also think that irsay could have saved at least a tiny bit of PR by re naming the franchise while moving, and i think indianapolis would have appreciated a team name honoring our place in racing history.
"What happened with Andrew Luck was industrial strength Karma"
You have serious issues, pal. It's a game, not life or death.
@@mconley600 seriously. Have you ever seen how when the Ravens play the Colts in Baltimore, they will show Indy instead of the team name on the scoreboard like every other team gets. Bet the Browns don't get that treatment...
Peyton Manning had a neck injury that kept him out of the entire 2011 season they were going to be bad anyway
The woefull Dallas Texans of 1952 essentially became the Baltimore Colts and they were the last NFL team to fold/ go out of business
Yep exactly, all while stealing the Colts name from the previous Baltimore Colts team.
Was it just a coincidence that the Hoosier Dome seats were blue? One has to wonder. I personally believe Irsay had his eye on Indianapolis when the Hoosier Dome was under construction.
Ah the good old days when a domed stadium ONLY costs $72 million
You seem to forget and 1994 and 95 Baltimore had a professional football team from the CFL....Going as far as to win the Grey Cup
Yeah my bad, forgot to include it!
@@AllSportsHistory Yeah They even had Wild Bill Hagey up in the stands and has the fans doing the C-O-L-T-S chants!
Teams have been moving since the beginning, but the Baltimore Colts were the second modern day era move after TV / after the NFL was a well established league, but nobody in the media outside of Baltimore seemed to care much about what happened to Baltimore. Nobody cared that an owner took a storied franchise like the Baltimore Colts and purposely ruined it, to justify a move out of town. And it It was all pre-arranged. The final nail was when Elway didnt want to play for the drunk Irsay. He was known as a horrible drunk owner low on cash and why the stadium excuse had to be used instead.
The Internet wasn't around either and only when another storied franchise moved a short time later in '96 and with the internet now in existence was there enough noise heard for the Browns to at least keep their name and records. And the Browns move to Baltimore was pre-arranged too- Modell and Lerner were old pals and on the plane when the deal was done. Baltimore shouldve gotten an expansion team in '95 instead, but the NFL click made sure their TV boy Modell got the golden parachute from Baltimore, because Baltimore would be where the NFL could find him the most money. We (The fans) didnt want someones team from another city that lost theirs undeservingly like what happened to us undeservingly. We deserved and wanted an expansion team in '95.
Anyhow, Irsay shouldve left the name in Baltimore regardless when he took the team to Indy in '84, so that we couldve just picked back up with the Colts name in '96 and from true expansion only. Not from being forced to provide a golden parachute to a broke NFL old timer who pulled a dirty move on his city, Cleveland. So anyway, the Indy Racers or some dinosaur name wouldve been a good name for the Indy team and they couldve started their own legacy from scratch in '84. You think they liked being associated with the Colts name after knowing all that storied history did not take place in their City? And why the heck would Bourbon Bob Irsay care? I know the Drunk tried to charge was it 25 million for Baltimore to buy the Colts name back? Everything to him was only about money, like all the rest of these owners. I do not live far from the many horse ranches and horse farms still here in Maryland and of course with the Preakness being in Maryland, the name fits and both the name and records belong here. If teams move, just leave the name at least. These owners not leaving the names just shows you how they really couldnt care less about fans. It should be standard practice. The Arizona Cardinals? Really? I still cannot get used to that one.
5:46 that killed me 😂😂🤣
8:09 Birmingham also made an offer to the Colts.
Yeah, I think Irsay was probably right to ignore Birmingham. It's a smaller market that is college football crazed. Not saying an NFL team wouldn't work there, but I'm not sure the locals there will care if the Colts had moved there.
@@AllSportsHistory At times Birmingham has been mentioned as a potential candidate city for an NFL Team-either expansion or relocation.
@@WDI2008 For sure, I just don’t think the NFL would seriously go there. Too many other places they would consider first, especially today since the NFL is obsessed with expanding the leagues global reach.
@@AllSportsHistory Yeah I would rather see an NFL team in Toronto and San Antonio. And possibly even London and Mexico City over Birmingham.
Exactly, and there’s west coast cities too. I’ve always thought it would be cool to have a team in Portland to be a natural rival to Seattle. There’s also Sacramento, Oakland, San Diego, and St. Louis.
I have a good idea for an All Sports History profile all of the former teams when the NFL founded.
A lot of defunct teams from back in the day to cover so yeah I’d love to get them all!
@@AllSportsHistory I got another idea 💡. How about the Chicago, St. Louis,& Arizona Cardinals?
1:34 the Triangle, still the best mascot in the history of professional sports
Ive had a few scares with my team moving, most recently to Toronto, and Ive always said if my Bills move I will not follow them, because it wont be the same team. The city is the true identity of a team, not the name and colors (and in the Bills case theyd have to change those too as Bills doesnt fit with any city except Buffalo- its a play on the name Buffalo Bill)
You missed the part where Irsay purposely ran the team into the ground so he’d have an excuse to move the Colts.
In that expansion, only Charlotte and Baltimore 1 and Baltimore 2 came to the table with their homework ready. Charlotte was awarded on franchise. Meanwhile, Memphis and Jacksonville weren’t ready. They were told to come back in two weeks to make their pitches. The two Baltimore bidders were asked to combine their bids and were also invited to return in two weeks.
Which they did.
Jacksonville of course got their franchise and when the combined Baltimore team complained, Tagliabue saw fit to insult Baltimoreceven further. First he told them that they should take their money and build some libraries. Then he told them that the NFL was not in the business of expanding into failed markets. If they wanted a team, perhaps Baltimore could get a team the way other cities had. You know, like Indianapolis did.
Nice.
Art Modell, a member of the expansion committee, saw what Baltimore and Maryland were offering. He took that proposal to the city of Cleveland asking for something similar. They told him there was no money to build a new stadium but here’s some money for “upgrades” to the ancient cavernous Municipal Stadium. Modell, unlike Irsay, at least had the grace to give the mayor Cleveland notice and did not sneak out in the middle of the night in a snowstorm.
After the move was made, outrage swept the country. Even President Clinton put in his two cents. The result was that the NFL expanded into the failed market that was Cleveland even helping them build a new stadium and vilifying Baltimore for grabbing the Browns away like other cities had to get their teams. You know like Indianapolis and St Louis. They let Indianapolis keep all the Colts records and memorabilia and they let Cleveland keep all the Browns records and memorabilia. Two big middle fingers to Baltimore.
Then, when Houston Oilers moved to Tennessee, they once again expanded into a failed market and created the Texans. They did not tell Houston to get a team the way other cities did like, you know, Indianapolis.
So you missed a big part of the insulting way the NFL treated one of their premier cities, one that pretty much put them in the map in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
I see where our owner gets his thought process … his dad was a mess lol
Both of Baltimore's sports teams were formerly named The Browns
Baltimore City born and raised. I do understand that they may be sold and moved but this was so dirty way to treat the City and fans to move in middle of the night! I don't know any City treated this way and I hope no one was. It was confusing because we didn't know where the Team went. Our Team was stolen in the middle of the night!!
2pm starts!
It's interesting how they left in the middle of the night like that
You’re right about that!!!!
That move was gangsta, “I LOVE IT” 🤣 #ColtsStrong
Yep the city pretty much left him with no choice haha.
You wanna hear something really funny? The Broncos have won more super bowls with Colts quarterbacks than Indy has, and Baltimore has won twice as many super bowls in Iess time than the colts needed to win one.
@@samortmann5003 Right, and horseface Elway was the final nail, not wanting to play for drunk Irsay.
If you can get rid of a player, coach, or GM for being bad at their job, you should be able to get rid of the owner too.
Houston had to deal with Bud Adams.
What about the first Baltimore Colt team?
Yeah I’d like to eventually cover the AAFC teams and the league, so that’d be a good one!
Modell shook off the offer of 26million to bring the Colts name back to Baltimore before naming them the Ravens.
Funny how Carroll Rosenbloom owned the Colts then traded himself to the Rams for Robert Irsay.
NFL had the Move of the Baltimore Colts to Indy worked out long before anyone would care to believe is my guess and that would be due to all the propaganda people believed during the move.
More teams need to be fan owned similar to the how the Green Bay packers are run that would cut out teams moving on a whim.
Now Green Bays situation is a little different only because it was grandfathered in but I would make this the model for future franchises going forward.
I thought it was disgusting with how the Colts moved. I have seen a team go fron just missing a championship, with that same team moving to another city. I watched this team and loved the team. I wanted to learn how to ice skate at one point to try and make it big with this team. Did they change the colors or logo with the newly found Dallas Stata, at least not for awhile. I then despised and hated the Dallas Stars, and I then moved my main team to the Pittsburgh Penguins who just happened to be the team done at the Minnesota North Stars in 1991. I will cheer for the Wild but they are not my number 1 team. That stays with Pittsburgh, but they are my number 2 team in the NHL.
Funny once that clown left B-more they built a beautiful baseball and football stadium
Yes beautiful M and T stadium instead of Memorial Stadium
It’s not mentioned but Irsay came to Jacksonville also. Landed his helicopter in the old gator bowl. There were Jacksonville Colts signs and all 😩😂😂The city was trying to lure the franchise here and teams often toyed with Jacksonville and used us as a bargaining chip. The Oilers did the same thing to is. So I don’t think it was so surprising that Jacksonville got a team eventually. The NFL was well aware of Jacksonville
Good video. I recall those days while still a Baltimore Colt fan. One thing to add. I think the Baltimore Evening Sun Paper the night of the move stated on the front page " Colts Staying" and then to wake the next day to the Sun printing " Colts Gone". The Ursey family name in Baltimore is still "mud". We got some of our dignity back when the Urseys refused to pay Manning his $28mil bonus. Payton moved to Denver where he won the Super Bowl that year.
Memorial Stadium looked like it had been through World War I and II
Anthony Richardson is going to be a high star for the COLTS.
baltimore colt fans have no one to blame but the city for not working hard enough to get “their” team a stadium. and then they tried to take someone else’s property cause he threatened to move.
Agreed!
wrong
Wrong
@@monicasojka2738 explain
Only 72 million? NFL stadiums have come along way.
This is what led to the Browns relocation deal.
I’m a Patriots fan and I live in Florida. I was born and raised in Massachusetts. I’m not sure what I would do if the Patriots moved. I don’t live in New England anymore so I shouldn’t care if they move but as a die hard Boston fan I’m not sure if I would support them if they moved outside of New England.
Not sure how old you are but it almost happened in the early 90's. James Busch Orthwein bought the team from Victor Kiam and had every intention of moving them to St. Louis. Bob Kraft owned the Foxboro Stadium at the time and wouldn't let Orthwein get out of the stadium lease. Orthwein ended up selling to Kraft.
I've been a NJ Devils fan for 40 years and counting. If they ever packed up and moved out of NJ, I'd sadly put away EVERYTHING I have of them.
@@indianapatsfan Yeah. That happened before I was born. They also planned on moving to Connecticut which would’ve been fine as long as they keep name New England.
I grew up just north of Indy. It was a great time to live in central Indiana. They played their first game as Ind. Colts on my 13th birthday. I was thrilled. Sorry Baltimore, but at least the Ravens have been great for you.
An owner who was more personable and knew how to work with politicians would have been able to have gotten a new stadium built but Robert Irsay was not that person. The city of Baltimore is a lot to blame for the Colts leaving. Question P got the ball rolling with the Colts leaving and Eminent Domain was what sealed the deal.
The only people I ever knew that liked the Colts just jumped on the wagon when Peyton Manning was there~
Maybe you should meet me! I have been a Colts fan since 1964 (my 4th grade), my cousin Tom Matte was the running back in those glorious years. I met the Colts in the lobby of the Saddle River NJ Marriott in 1968 when they came to play the NY Giants. Got a lot of autographs -- wish I still had them! I was a fan before Peyton Manning was born. I stayed with them even after the move to Indianapolis. The old Colts' hatred for Indy was more against Robert Irsay then against Indy. But Indy (or Irsay?) did the old timers no favors, for example, by simply ignoring them for Old Timers' Day and similar events? What kind of idiot would willingly refuse to invite Johhny U, Tom Matte, Bubba Smith, John Mackey, et al?
@@niccols415 I dont personally blame people that "stick" for a payheck, but your post illustrates exaclty why the Colts name should been laid to rest for 12 years with those old players and revived with them once Baltimore was granted a new team. Its not only about the fans, its the players too. Who in the h*ll in Indy wants to be associated with some other Cities gloried footbal history? NFL is stupid.
Midnight move
Baltimore literally pushed the Colts out of the city by the way they acted. I dont get why old fans are so pissed at the Colts when their hand was literally forced.
Yeah I have to agree, usually the owner tends to be the “greedy, rich guy” who asks for a hand out from the city and fans to pay for a new stadium. While Irsay was looking for help, the city was unusually uncooperative and at times hostile to both the Colts and Orioles over their needs for a new stadium.
Simply false. The city was quite willing to support the team. The city was, perhaps, spoiled by Carroll Rosenbloom as an owner. However, Robert Irsay is probably the worst owner in the history of the NFL. The city of Baltimore didn't want to support Irsay.
@JBSptfn My understanding is that the old NFL owners ragged on Rosenbloom mercilessly after the Colts laid an egg against the Jets in SB III. I had understood that was a significant factor in his wanting to get out of Baltimore. Of course, any true Colts fan of that era knows why it is that if the Colts had been wearing white uniforms instead of blue, the outcome of SBIII might have been very different.
@@NeilLup Exactly. Irsay left Baltimore no choice but to distrust him, not the other way around.
Idiots who didn't live in Baltimore always think they know better.
To back up your assessment of irsay being the worst owner ever, witness his spiteful moves.....all of them.
This is why mentally ill alcoholics with childish personalities have no business owning a professional team.
@@NeilLup wtf does uniforms have to do with winning and losing a game?
Irsay screwed over Baltimore and left in the middle of the night. I doubt too many people use Mayflower in the Baltimore area when they move. At least the Ravens did the right thing and left the Browns name and history behind.
You don’t listen when that was court ordered
The courts was correct.
What about the Houston Oilers? They move to Nashville and “retired” the Oilers name. That’s just plain wrong.
They didn't want to do the right thing. Modell tried to take the Browns name with him to Baltimore. The only reason he didn't was because the city filed a lawsuit against him and the NFL, citing the lease requiring the Browns to play in Cleveland until 1998. The NFL knew that Cleveland had all the leverage and would win an injunction if allowed to progress to trial, so the league ordered Modell to leave the name, colors and history in Cleveland as a condition for being allowed to go to Baltimore. Baltimore could not do the same; the Colts had been operating on a one-year lease each year since the late 1970s.
Ravens fans have been attempting to whitewash Modell's actions by claiming "he did the right thing and left the name" for a quarter-century, in part to make themselves feel better about how they got their current team. But make no mistake, Modell was every bit as bad as Irsay, and in some ways, he was actually worse.
@@jessesantiago4584 the agreement was wroked out before it was made public and model had no intention of keeping the name Browns in Baltimore. NFL would not have allowed it either.
so i wasnt around for the colts rise and downfall but my dad was around for their first super bowl he was 4 at the time and he was around to see them crash and burn after burt jones broke his shoulder in a preseason game in 1977 he told me that the day the colts moved was the first time he’d seen his father cry i agree with Johnny U and some of the other colt legends they played for BALTIMORE not indianapolis and they deserve to have their records history etc be baltimore in current day 2022 the orioles (im a diehard btw) arent so good hopefully we are in a year or so, they could move to nashville if thats the case the mlb needs to either force their hand and stop them or retire the team and keep the history in baltimore, just my opinion
What I got out of this was that both sides played a villain in this story
Yep pretty much, I was surprised to learn just how much Baltimore (the local government) took the Colts for granted.
Same here. All these years, I thought Irsay was the only bad guy in this story. I was wrong.
Propaganda and theater. Irsay switched franchises with Rosenbloom in 1972 because the NFL wanted NFL in Indy.
I watch football and don’t care who plays who on a Sunday afternoon. Living in SC, I am in Panthers country but sometimes get Falcons maybe. Get the Jaguars on the radio. Colts or Ravens I don’t care just as long as there is football.
Just imagine if the browns left cleveland for the Hoosier dome? They would've been the Indianapolis browns, and played on astroturf. Both sound so wrong