A Tale of Two Cities--and One Team: Colts Moved and Money Followed

Downtown Indianapolis was jammed on Sundays last fall.

Restaurants and hotels were booked to capacity, parking lots were filled with cars.

All around the new Hoosier Dome, activity abounded. The Indianapolis Colts were in their new home for National Football League games, and fans were pouring thousands of dollars into the city’s economic heart.

In Baltimore, 800 miles to the east, Memorial Stadium sat empty.

Kids no longer hawked pennants or $2 parking places along 33rd Street. It was easy to find a spot at the bar at the Stadium Lounge nearby. From the end of baseball season in October until the start of this year’s in April, residents of the city’s Waverly section, where the stadium is located, had their quiet neighborhood to themselves.

The Baltimore Colts, the team of Johnny Unitas, Lenny Moore, Alan Ameche, Gino Marchetti and Raymond Berry, of sudden death and season tickets willed to survivors, were gone.

When Robert Irsay moved the Colts a year and a half ago, more than just the team moved.

So did a lot of money--an estimated $9 million in player and front-office salaries and twice or even three times that much spent on tickets, hotel rooms, restaurant meals, bar tabs, parking fees and other economic fringe benefits enjoyed by a major league city on game day.

“We figure the direct economic benefit somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 million to $30 million,” Indianapolis Mayor William H. Hudnut said. “It may be much larger when you consider the roll-over effect of dollars spent.”

The arrival of the Colts created jobs for concessionaires, parking lot attendants, ticket takers and what Hudnut calls “other entry-level positions . . . jobs for people who don’t have many skills.”

In Baltimore, city and state officials have been hard-pressed to fill the financial void left by the Colts.

In 1983, the last year the Colts played at Memorial Stadium, the team’s presence meant between $35 million and $40 million to the state’s $1.2 billion sports industry, according to Dennis McGee, spokesman for Maryland’s Department of Economic and Community Development.

“It worked out to $12 million in direct spending, in salaries and buying hot dogs and parking fees,” McGee said. Indirect spending added about $24 million to the state’s economy.

With a gross state product of $52.8 billion in 1982, McGee said that $35 million did not really have much impact on Maryland’s overall economy.

“But if you live in Baltimore, it’s a large chunk of money,” he added.

The impact on Indianapolis is not just economic.

“I think it’s given a lot of attention to Indianapolis that has stimulated investor interest,” Hudnut said. “That’s very hard to calculate, but our image has been enhanced by the many times it has been of the lips of people around the country, due to the Colts and other major sporting events we’re involved with.

“Our downtown is revitalized. It’s on the move. There’s a lot more going on. Some of the hotels that were empty on weekends are now full when the Colts play. Some of the downtown restaurants that were having a tough time are now having a good time.”

The Hyatt Regency Hotel sits in the shadow of the $81 million Hoosier Dome, a combination sports arena and extension of the city’s convention center.

“We got a lot of transient room business on game weekends,” Hyatt manager Steve Janicek said. “Our Sunday brunch has been very successful, as well as the to-go stations we’ve set up for food in the lobby.”

There is a carry-over effect, too.

“You can’t make a business go just on the strength of 8 or 10 games,” said Van Brown, a consultant-developer for Shaboom’s, a restaurant that opened after the Colts had come to town and is located a couple of blocks from the Hoosier Dome. “But the Colts bring people downtown that haven’t been there for some time. Some 60,000 people see the downtown, notice improvements and become excited about the development.”

“The professional team goes beyond the recognition factor--that the name Baltimore gets beyond our borders,” said Marvin Bond, a spokesman for the Maryland comptroller’s office. “The important aspect of any professional team is promoting the state or city, and that’s where Baltimore gets its greatest benefit.”

People now go to downtown Baltimore for reasons other than football games. The Inner Harbor has been rebuilt in the last decade, going from an area of warehouses and winos to a brick promenade with smart shops and a fashionable clientele.

Still, Baltimore is losing more minus the Colts than it is gaining elsewhere.

Between October and December of 1984, fans spent $3.3 million in admissions to Baltimore athletic events. For the same months of 1983, the figure was $10.3 million.

That translated to a 47.9% loss in tax revenue from admissions and amusement--from $1.4 million in 1983 to $710,000 in 1984--despite increases in other entertainment areas.

“In the city, that drop in tax revenue coming in from admissions to athletic events was significant enough to eclipse increases they got in spending for movies, nightclub admissions and so forth,” Bond said.