It might be easy to gloss over this, now Indianapolis has collectively lived the end of the story for the last 40 years:
When ground was broken in the early 1980s on the Hoosier Dome, with the majority of the construction funded by taxpayers, Indianapolis had no guarantee it would get an NFL tenant for its new stadium.
"Indy did something which is unheard of," Colts Owner and CEO Jim Irsay told me, "they built a new stadium – and back then, a dome stadium, which there were very few of – and they didn't have a team.
"It's like, what?"
The "no guts, no glory" political risks taken by two Indianapolis mayors – Richard Lugar and Bill Hudnut – are at the center of Episode 2 of the Move, "Indianapolis," which you can listen to now on all major podcast platforms as well as on YouTube and the Colts Mobile App.
But there's more to the story than Lugar and Hudnut's vision for Indianapolis, and how that vision ultimately culminated in pursuing the Colts in 1984. The Indiana Pacers – and how they achieved stability after a turbulent decade at Market Square Arena – are a massive part of this story.
"I think that's very, very possible, if not likely," former Indianapolis Star sportswriter Bill Benner told me, "that had the Pacers ended up moving that the public, they would've shook their head and said no to further investment in sport.
"That was a big, big thing that occurred that kind of cleared the way for the Colts to eventually come here."
You'll hear from Benner, as well as former Indianapolis deputy mayor Jim Morris, veteran WISH-TV reporter Debby Knox, dean of the Colts beat Mike Chappell, former radio host Jimmy "Dog" Matis and longtime "Bob & Tom" host Tom Griswold, among others, in the episode.
You can download The Move Episode 2: Indianapolis on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also listen to the episode on YouTube and the Colts App.
