On March 29, 1984, a fleet of Mayflower vans delivered the Colts to Indianapolis. A few days later, the city held a celebration at the Hoosier Dome, attended by about 20,000 people, to celebrate the arrival of the NFL – and of Indianapolis as a major American city.
But for the Colts coaches and staffers who made the move with the team from Baltimore, through all the pomp and circumstance of that celebration, a lingering question remained.
Now what?
"You didn't really know where to begin," Pete Ward, now the Colts' Chief Operating Officer who was an administrative assistant in 1984, said. "We didn't have phones, we didn't have anybody to answer phones, we didn't have stationary, we didn't know what our address was, we didn't have a copier.
"It was starting a franchise from scratch except you had your players and coaches under contract."
The Colts quickly were tasked with setting up shop in 1984 at Fall Creek Elementary, an abandoned school on the east side of Indianapolis. And the story of that elementary school, and the sprint for the franchise to handle the intense local demand for tickets, is at the heart of Episode 4 of The Move.
We also explore how Baltimore and its residents responded, both emotionally and then with action, to losing their football team.
"The next day, commerce was moving in Baltimore," John Ziemann, then the leader of the Colt marching band, said. "Nobody died. The sun came up. But we lost a big part of our heart and the way it was done was heartbreaking."
And, finally, we wrap up "The Move" with some perspective on how Indianapolis, over the last 40 years, has made good on its opportunity to become an NFL city.
You can download all four episodes of "The Move" by subscribing to the Colts Audio Network wherever you get your podcasts, including on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube.
