The Story of the Horseshoe

Where It Started

The franchise was founded in 1953 when the NFL granted Baltimore an expansion team, reviving the “Colts” name from an earlier defunct club. Within a few seasons, Baltimore had built one of the league’s signature teams of the era, anchored by a quarterback who would go on to redefine the position.

The Unitas Era

Johnny Unitas joined the Colts in 1956 after being cut by another franchise, and within two seasons he had transformed Baltimore into NFL champions. The 1958 NFL Championship Game against the New York Giants — decided in sudden-death overtime — is still widely remembered as one of the most important games in the sport’s history, credited by many historians with accelerating professional football’s rise as a national television sport.

A Decade Later, A Title

The Colts capped that golden era by winning Super Bowl V in January 1971, defeating the Dallas Cowboys in a tightly contested, error-filled game that still earned the franchise its first Super Bowl ring. It remains one of the most quoted “ugly classics” in Super Bowl history.

The Move to Indianapolis

By the early 1980s, a stalemate over stadium investment between the franchise and the city of Baltimore had reached a breaking point. In March 1984, the team relocated to Indianapolis in a single overnight move using a fleet of moving vans — an event still referenced today as one of the most abrupt franchise relocations in American sports history. The Indianapolis Colts played their first home games at the Hoosier Dome (later renamed the RCA Dome).

Building Toward a Second Championship

The 1990s brought a new wave of talent, including a productive backfield and a defense that gradually turned the franchise into a perennial contender. By 1998, the team had added a quarterback who would become the face of the franchise for over a decade, pairing with a steadily improving roster to make the Colts one of the AFC’s most consistent teams through the 2000s.

Super Bowl XLI and a New Stadium Era

That run culminated in a Super Bowl XLI victory in February 2007, played in heavy rain in Miami, with the Colts’ head coach becoming the first Black head coach to win a Super Bowl. The following year, the franchise opened Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis, a retractable-roof venue that remains the team’s home today. You can read more about the stadium and its place in franchise history on our Game Day Central page.

The Modern Era

Since then, the roster has continued to turn over through draft classes, free agency, and coaching changes — the normal rhythm of any NFL franchise. What hasn’t changed is the fan base’s identity: a city that has fully absorbed the team as its own, with a stadium experience built around tailgates, sellout crowds, and a shared sense that Sundays in the fall belong to the Horseshoe.

For a deeper dive into specific eras and the people who shaped them, visit our Colts History & Legacy blog series.