From Maryland to Indiana

There has been speculation for years that John Elway was one of the biggest deciding factors in Robert Irsay moving his city from Baltimore to Indianapolis in 1984. It was Elway that refused to play for the city of Baltimore, only to return the following season to beat the team he said "no way" to before even dawning a Colts uniform. Most people are not aware that Elway had little, if nothing, to do with the relocation.

One fateful day on December 18, 1983, little to nobody could have seen it coming, and very few people knew that it was going to be the last game the Baltimore Colts would play as a football franchise. Despite being beaten by the same quarterback that refused to play for them, and losing QB Art Schlichter to a one year suspension due to gambling (the quarterback that the Colts got instead of getting Elway), the Baltimore Colts played through a tough year and finished 7-9. Even a good finish to a very hard year was not enough for the fans to support their team, as they heavily disagreed with the way that owner Robert Irsay was running things. The Irsay family insisted on the city of Baltimore to pay for a new football facility, and the city decided to take their time on responding. Irsay then starting looking elsewhere and it just so happened that in February 1984, Indianapolis was looking for a team to play in their Hoosier Dome, and Irsay didn't waste time on moving right in.

As rumor goes, right after midnight on March 29 1984, Irsay secretly moved all the Colts offices on a cold snowy night to Indianapolis in Mayflower moving trucks. Nobody including the NFL pursued this move by Irsay.