Speaker 1: It's been forty years since the Colts packed up in
Speaker 1: the middle of the night and moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis.
Speaker 1: But why exactly did the Colts leave Baltimore and how
Speaker 1: did they end up in Indianapolis. I'm JJ Stankowitz, and
Speaker 1: over four episodes of The Move, a new podcast I'm
Speaker 1: hosting on the Colts Audio Network, we will answer those
Speaker 1: questions about maybe the most infamous move in American professional
Speaker 1: sports history. You'll hear from those who lived it, including
Speaker 1: jim irsay, Rick Venturi, John Zeeman, Debbie Knox, Tom Griswold,
Speaker 1: and several others. In Baltimore, if you were a cult player,
Speaker 1: you were king.
Speaker 2: The Baltimore Colts established the NFL. To go back and
Speaker 2: look at those three years where they had a really
Speaker 2: good team, About half the games were sold out, a
Speaker 2: lot of games to forty five thousand, Memorial Stadium was shot,
Speaker 2: And again I reiterate, that's the only thing I'll agree.
Speaker 3: With the bother saying this went on for years. The
Speaker 3: tale of the team.
Speaker 2: We were told, don't go anywhere this weekend because we're
Speaker 2: probably going to become the Arizona Colts when Indianapolis shows up.
Speaker 2: You're like, they're not an NFL city, how can they
Speaker 2: take this team? The nickname was Knaptown, which was that
Speaker 2: sleepy little town in Indiana. It was the Inny five hundred,
Speaker 2: and it was basketball when they.
Speaker 1: First started talking about building the dome and and all
Speaker 1: that sort of thing.
Speaker 2: And you're kind of like, yeah, right, okay, you don't
Speaker 2: have a team. Really, what's this going to look like?
Speaker 2: So I called my dad in the morning. Dad, Frank
Speaker 2: and I are in Indianapolis. What do we do?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 2: What are you doing in Indianapolis? What the hell is
Speaker 2: going on?
Speaker 3: I go?
Speaker 2: You told me to go to Indianapolis with Frank Hush.
Speaker 3: I saw my father cry twice in his life. My
Speaker 3: father was born in nineteen nineteen. He died in ninety two.
Speaker 3: I saw him cry when his sister died, and I
Speaker 3: saw him cry when the Colts left down.
Speaker 2: The truth is he had to move there threatening them
Speaker 2: in at domain.
Speaker 1: There no stadium deal to go that was even close
Speaker 1: to being worthwhile.
Speaker 2: So you had to move.
Speaker 3: I told you how angry it made me just to
Speaker 3: see the worship.
Speaker 1: People were cheering.
Speaker 2: Everything that would cheer. Everything didn't matter. It was clear
Speaker 2: to all I knew was a had an NFL team.
Speaker 1: The first episode of the Move, which explores the rise
Speaker 1: and fall of the Baltimore Colts, will be released on Monday,
Speaker 1: June twenty fourth. Subscribe to the Colts Audio Network on
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast platform of choice to
Speaker 1: get new episodes of The Move delivered to your feed
Speaker 1: every Monday morning between now and mid July. You can
Speaker 1: also listen to the episodes on YouTube and the Colts app.