Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts changed the face of a city, as the success of the quarterback and the team transformed a city into a sports hub and a football-obsessed city.
Manning did not hesitate to say that it was all down to the vision of one man: Jim Irsay.
The Colts owner died on Wednesday at the age of 65, and Manning recalled that when he arrived after being drafted in the 1998 NFL Draft, the city was completely different to when he left the franchise in 2012.
The change in the city of Indianapolis and the success of the Colts
The day after Irsay’s death on ESPN’s “NFL Live”, Peyton Manning recalled the evolution of the city of Indianapolis under Irsay’s leadership.
“When I got there, Indiana basketball, auto racing, the Indianapolis 500… that was it,” Manning said.
“I think football was the third sport. Maybe not. Golf might have been in there. And all of a sudden, because of the commitment that Jim had to winning, he hires Bill Polian, rebuilt the Buffalo Bills, founded the Carolina Panthers as a new franchise and took them to the NFC Championship Game, then drafts Edgerrin James and obviously renews Marvin Harrison, who was already there,” added the Hall of Fame passer.
“All of a sudden, people say, ‘Hey, the Colts are beating Miami, they’re beating Buffalo, they’re winning their division.’ And all of a sudden, wow, the Colts are for real.”
This began the transformation of the city, which went from being a basketball city to a football city.
“Before our eyes, Indianapolis became the biggest football city. College football is on the rise. Fans wear more jerseys at a Colts game than at any other stadium,” Manning said. “And that was because of Jim’s commitment. His commitment to the city was to bring them a winning team once he took over, and he did”.
The Colts, at odds with the city over a stadium lease, flirted with the idea of moving the franchise in the early 2000s.
A losing team that lacked fan support, as the Colts notoriously struggled with television blackouts in the 1990s, may have been easier to abandon than a team with a reputation for consistently winning.
“There were all kinds of rumors about us possibly moving to Los Angeles or something like that,” Manning said. “But Jim always wanted to stay in Indianapolis, although he thought, ‘We have a great team. It’s fun to watch them play. Let’s get them a new stadium.’ And all of a sudden, Lucas Oil Stadium is built.”
The Colts won Super Bowl XLI after the 2006 season, which cemented them as a team to watch. Two years later, they opened their new stadium. This helped secure downtown Indianapolis’ future as a destination for major sporting events such as the NCAA Final Four and allowed the city to host its only Super Bowl in February 2012.
Irsay and Manning made peace after quarterback’s departure to Denver
About his relationship with Irsay, which was always affected by the difficult decision to release Manning in 2012 to play for the Denver Broncos, Manning said: “I will be very grateful to him for what he did for me, by giving me my chance. And certainly, we parted ways.“But five years later, after my retirement, he dedicated a statue in my name, placed me in the Ring of Honor and insisted that I fly to Canton, Ohio, on the Colts’ plane.”
“He cared about his community, he cared about his family, but he loved the Colts, he loved the horseshoe, as he called it, and I think that’s a great legacy,” Manning concluded.
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