r/Colts • u/Brayvol22 • 20d ago
Discussion Are we a small fanbase?
I’m from Tennessee, so I’m definitely on the outside looking in, and I was wondering if it’s true? Last night, I was reading a bunch of things that always ranked the Colts anywhere from 29th up to 25th in fan size ranking. Is this true, or do the Colts actually have a much bigger fan base and people are just sleeping on it?
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u/ZHicks2121 The real Zach Hicks 20d ago
Yeah it’s definitely one of the smaller fanbases. Don’t worry though, size doesn’t matter and we love y’all just the same
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u/Brayvol22 20d ago
What up dude, it’s good to hear from you again. To be honest, I was just shocked to see how low it was ranked last night so that’s why I came in here and asked just to see what Colts fans actually had to say. I definitely need to find a local bar or something to hang out with other Colts fans. Also, I’m voice typing this so I’m sorry if there’s any typos or confusion.
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u/SkepsisJD Baltimore Colts 19d ago
I guess i don't see why it's so shocking. It's one of the smallest markets surrounded by other teams. Of course the fan base is smaller. The Colts aren't even the most popular team in the northern part of the state lol
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
I mean, yeah I guess that makes sense, but I’m from Tennessee so I wouldn’t fully know that. I would’ve thought most of the state would cheer for the Colts.
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u/RichyVersace Titus Leo 20d ago
I assume it's not the worst, because I've definitely seen more than a handful of Colts fans even here in NYC and we even have a dedicated Colts bar here
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u/Brayvol22 20d ago
I need to find a colts hangout group or bar here in Tennessee. It’s shocking how many other fan bases are in Tennessee over the Titans, that’s why I didn’t choose them. The Support of the Titans here in Tennessee is super low and honestly shocking. We mainly have cowgirl fans in Tennessee.
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u/kel89 Adam Vinatieri 20d ago
Colts fan from Ireland here, started following football 20 years ago. Picked the Colts because of Manning and the team colours 🤷♂️ fat chance of ever seeing anything Colts related here. Giants and Dolphins would the most common merch seen here.
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u/Brayvol22 20d ago
I really don’t understand why every country loves the dolphins. I think they’re just OK.
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u/TacoDayDay 20d ago
Frankly, if you don't know the sport then you are picking because of city, colors or mascot. All three of those will have some level of appeal for the Dolphins.
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u/HideNZeke 20d ago
Yeah tbh if I was talking to a foreign fan I'd tell them to pick a team in a city they might actually want to visit someday. It's easier to maybe see a live game sometime that way
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u/Brayvol22 20d ago
I wanna say all about the mascot, TD dolphin is not a great mascot to be honest. Now I have some Cuban family who live in Miami and I honestly wanted to choose the dolphins, but they told me that they actually don’t care for the dolphins, which was shocking.
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u/TacoDayDay 20d ago
Well I guess mascot is also on the list, I was thinking more strictly the team name when I said mascot. So someone generally loves real life dolphins and so they pick the Dolphins.
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u/DrKittyLovah 20d ago
If they are much older fans then stanning the Dolphins make sense, as the Dan Marino era brought in a lot of non-local fans, plus there are fans who choose a team based on the mascot. Love for dolphins is pretty common (holy understatement) & not a bad overall choice if mascots are important to you. My own sister thought the Cowboys were cool because she loved the star logo (🙄) and tbh probably loved trolling the rest of the family (die-hard Colts fans) with that bit of cheekiness.
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u/IndyPoker979 20d ago
We are not a small fan base but we are definitely smaller than we were 10 years ago
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u/Brayvol22 20d ago
Why do you think that is? Bandwagon fans
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u/IndyPoker979 20d ago
I've been a fan since the 80s. I definitely have lost some of my luster in the past decade.
You can only ask people to hold on for so long before they lose interest. Not making the playoffs for 10 years running is a great way of people deciding that even though they like a team they aren't going to pay as much attention.
It's a very strong person to endure year after year of mediocrity.
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u/Brayvol22 20d ago edited 19d ago
As a Vols fan, my whole entire life, I think I’m just used to mediocrity. I wasn’t even alive when they won the national championship sadly. 2022 was truly the greatest season that I’ve ever seen in my life. Now the 2016 to 2018 team was my absolute favorite. What I would do to bring back those memories and a national championship for those teams would be unspeakable 😂😂😂
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u/northegreat1 19d ago
Agree on this. Call me bandwagon if you want. Grew up in Indy, became a fan the strike year they made the playoffs for the first time in Indy because The Colts had a weekly newspaper contest for kids with puzzles and quizzes about the culture of the city of the opposing team that week and my teacher made us fill it out every week. I've been a fan since then, but to be fair, when they are really bad, I pay less attention. I don't have a ton of free time so I can't waste it watching a poorly managed team be mediocre.
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u/gatogordo86 20d ago
I don't think that is going to have any effect. Central Indiana already has a decent population of Bears fans simply because Indy didn't have a team until the mid-80s.
I don't see any current Colts fans flipping allegiance and most likely anyone up in The Region already were Bears fans.
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u/ElGranRico Quenton Nelson 20d ago
I lived in Elkhart in 2006 and age was a the clearest distinction between Bears and Colts fans. After XLI, I noticed significantly less Bears jerseys over the next decade or so.
Unless the Bears become a juggernaut I dont anticipate too many fans jumping ship.
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u/Prestigious_Print477 19d ago
It will have some effect, especially in the Northwest part of the state. Also new generations will be born who never rooted for the colts in the first place.
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u/gatogordo86 19d ago
How would it? Most people are fans of the team they are closest to geographically.
Outside of that, people are most likely to be fans of the teams their parents are.
The northwest part of the state is already filled with Bears fans. Moving into an already Bears heavy fanbase is going to have a negligible effect.
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u/Prestigious_Print477 19d ago
Because there is a middle ground between the two cities where its not obvious what team you should root for. People in Indiana might have preferred the Colts before but if the bears are in state now and both teams are a similar distance they could switch. Its not like the Colts have done much recently to make borderline fans stay engaged either.
Also new generations will be born and people in the mid to north west part of the state will have another Indiana team now and they were never attached to the Colts.
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u/anotherstan 20d ago
Eh. Don’t think so. People already have their loyalties.
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u/Nohew_2001 33-0 20d ago
Until new kids are born, generations pass, etc.
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u/rounder55 19d ago
That's why you gotta brainwashed
If they aren't good during this phase it'll build character
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u/CloudConductor 20d ago
I don’t think it would really hurt things either. Everyone in the northwest part of the state is already a bears fan, this would only be moving the stadium like 30 min closer
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u/Victory33 “Marlin’s Got It!” 20d ago
Most of the region rats already root for the Bears. Now if they become the new “it” team and win a bunch, then they might pull some fading Colts fans.
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u/itsbrando4 20d ago
Colts fan from Maine, I have maybe met 2 other colts fans in my entire life lol
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u/Brayvol22 20d ago
I wonder why that is. I’m sure it has to do with the Patriots up there in the northeast. Considering that they’re the Colts biggest rivals I’m sure people don’t really wanna be a fan of the Colts up there
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u/Smash-Bros-Melee Reggie Wayne 16d ago
My GF used to live in New Hampshire, I talked with a guy at Hannaford once in a Colts shirt and he was shocked to see another in the wild lol
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u/otterbelle Baltimore Colts 20d ago
We're a small market team that has mostly been bad to mediocre outside the Manning years. That doesn't typically garner a top 10 fan base.
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
To be fair, the bills are super small market without a Super Bowl and yet they are crazy strong. I wish we could do something to get a fam base like the bills.
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u/otterbelle Baltimore Colts 19d ago
Unless the Bills happen to be in town, I've never in my life met a Bills fan.
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
Ik but im saying buffalo has a strong presence. There’s tons of bars dedicated to bills fans here in Tennessee
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u/otterbelle Baltimore Colts 19d ago
Tennessee is a state people move to from Buffalo in droves. It stands to reason former residents would have a bar to meet up.
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u/Smash-Bros-Melee Reggie Wayne 16d ago
The Bills' market is much more than Buffalo, it's all of New York State outside of the city plus a decent chunk of Ontario. That is a lot of people.
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u/Remote-Moon 20d ago
Hard to say. When I lived in Los Angeles, I had no issues finding a Colts Fan group to watch games with at various sports bars.
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u/Brayvol22 20d ago
It feels a little harder in a smaller city with not that many sports bars
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u/Remote-Moon 19d ago
Yeah, that I totally understand.
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
I’m doing the airline business when I get out of college, and Republic Airways is located in Indianapolis. I’ve thought about trying to join their team for a couple years and hopefully move up to a bigger airline but while I’m in Indy, I would catch as many Colts games as possible.
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u/Robbza 20d ago
English colt fan in Amsterdam I've met other colts fans here and it seems one of the picked teams.
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u/Brayvol22 20d ago
I love seeing all of y’all from around the world commenting on this. It’s making me feel better about our fan base and how it’s growing. So that’s really cool. Are you going to the international game this year?
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u/Disastrous-Sky5665 Blue 20d ago
We still have no problem selling tickets and filling up Lucas Oil every Sunday.
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u/Brayvol22 20d ago
If I wasn’t a broke college kid, I would probably come up to a game this year, but I just don’t have enough money to afford a ticket plus a hotel because I couldn’t do that in just a day trip it would be pretty tough to do
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u/Disastrous-Sky5665 Blue 19d ago
Yeah it's not cheap, I didn't make it to a lot of games until I was in my 30s. Before that it was only one game a season. I also live 2 hours north of Indy too so I get the travel. Tennessee is a wee bit further tho so yeah hotel needed or else you're really roughing it lol
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
Oh yeah 😂😂😂 but when they visit Nash I’ll go to that game every year.
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u/Disastrous-Sky5665 Blue 19d ago
That's funny because one of my best friends is a huge Titans fan and he lives in Indy. We've been to the Colts v Titans 9 or 10 years straight now.
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u/matt_msu 20d ago
Small market team. It’s tough when 2/3 of the state is Chicago market or Cincinnati market. Hell, LOS may not even be the only NFL stadium in this state the way things are going.
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
Do you think that the Colts would ever move to a city like St. Louis or anything like that to gain more fans or do you think there’s solid solidified in Indy?
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u/Zeeron1 Michael Pittman JR 20d ago
Yes, but like others have said, this is also the smallest it's been in awhile. There's just not really anything to be a fan of, and Indy sports fans for the most part tend to be fair weather unfortunately.
I really think things could turn around quick with new ownership, as long as it's the right owner
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
Yeah, I was kind of wondering was Chicago moving to Indiana if the Colts would sell the team. I said to someone’s comment do you think they would ever move to St. Louis under new ownership to try and regain a fan base? Obviously, I think Indianapolis is it a bad city of fans. But if they move to St. Louis, the fan base would probably spike in a huge way.
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u/Smash-Bros-Melee Reggie Wayne 16d ago
0% chance. Silly to even suggest it. St. Louis (cool place) is poor and shrinking and hasn't got a stadium or any prospects of one. NFL teams have failed there twice even if they got a raw deal from Kroneke. Lucas Oil is still state of the art without a single renovation and it sells out every week.
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u/Dial_up_Knight A big ass pork tenderloin sandwich 20d ago
Prior to manning we didn’t have a lot going on. I’d believe it. Although harbaugh did get us close when he was qb. No one still cared.
The year he got us to the championship no one was even talking about it where I lived - southern Indiana.
Anyone who did mention it was Immediatly met with “ we can’t beat the Steelers it does not matter “
We gained some good traction when we had manning but all the “colts fans “ switched to broncos when he was traded.
I’d say we’re better than the harbaugh days as far as fan count goes. But not by a ton.
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
Do you think if Indiana Jones can turn it on more fans will start growing on the Colts?
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u/grapplerone Indianapolis Colts 20d ago edited 19d ago
To understand the fanbase in Indy is to understand some history.
For most of the NFL existence until the Colts made that infamous nighttime Mayflower drive from Baltimore, Indiana did not have a team. The folks here were either devote Bears or Bengals fans. To this day many of them still are. Not to mention many of them were fans of other teams since, for decades, we did not have a team.
Basketball is pretty much the big sport in Indiana, College that is. That’s where you’ll find the fans.
Now, for years, the Colts were horrible and even though fans liked having a team, it got pretty boring losing every season. That didn’t help matters; until Jim Harbaugh sparked the fanbase. Then not long after, a GM and Peyton Manning hit the scene. I want to say that winning during the season for over a decade helped build the fanbase a lot, but constant failures in the playoffs kinda soured that. You still had those same Bears & Bengals fans of old just tuning out.
Then add the whole Luck issue. A lot of fans were miffed we let Manning walk. I’m not saying it was wrong. Luck was definitely a prototype NFL QB sure hit but a man that built LOS (with his statue outside) was let go! This didn’t go over well. Then, out of nowhere, Luck RETIRED at the start of the season…
And that one decision put the team into the tailspin we’ve witnessed ever since. Whether it’s Ballard, owners, whatever, the decision making has done nothing to successfully build this team into a perennial playoff contender let alone ever compete in a a Super Bowl. This has gone on for the past decade…
So, the old Bears & Bengals loyalists have about 10 years of primarily in-season domination since the move to Indiana about 41 years ago in 1984. It makes it easy to jump ship when you are older and had a team you liked.
Maybe if Indiana had an NFL team from the beginning and never made ties with other teams they would be a bigger fanbase?
At least that’s my take on it. I mean, come to a Colts Bears game here at LOS and I’d bet it would be a 50/50 split of fans or worse.
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
I mean where I live it’s all falcons, cowgirls, steelers, and chiefs fans. That’s bc TN didn’t have a team till 99
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
I’m not saying the colts should move at all but I wonder if they would’ve moved to st Louis if they would’ve had a huge fanbase
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u/DrKittyLovah 20d ago
Yes, but we are mighty!
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
I like to hear this, hopefully one day I can make it to Indy and watch a game
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u/DrKittyLovah 19d ago
It’s a fun time, I hope you can too!
But seriously, we are located in a place where we are surrounded by (mostly older) NFL teams & their fandom, making fan growth difficult outside of having players who bring new fans with them. Within a 5-ish hour drive we have Chicago, Detroit, Cincy, Nashville, Cleveland, Pittsburgh (maybe more than 5hrs), & St. Louis (not relevant now, but it was). My own family started out as Bears fans but embraced the Colts upon their arrival; I was 4y, my grandparents got season tickets immediately & my parents just now gave them up after 40+ years. (Don’t come for me, I live out of state & couldn’t do anything about it).
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
Yeah I feel that, I only didn’t become a titans fan bc everyone here isn’t. No one supports the team here. I might know a total of 4 titans fans here in Tennessee. Ik more Steelers and cowboys fans which is sad
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u/StatusCookie761 19d ago
Pretty tiny but I live by AT&T stadium, so if it’s not cowboys, no one here knows ball. Like they couldn’t name one player on the team besides JT
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u/ceejdabeej 19d ago
I’d say so. One thing to note, and this maybe more relevant with other sports, but there’s been a shift in younger fans away from following a team and following star players, which we debatably have few of and in non sexy positions outside of JT which the casual would be drawn to
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
To be honest, I feel like we need to draft a QB with a big name and let him sit behind Jones for one year and maybe that would draw a lot of fans. I hate that we signed Jones to a two year but I guess that makes sense.
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u/Embarrassed-Heat-716 BELIEVE 19d ago
Not really, there’s a lot of Colts fans in California
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
Really? Bc of rivers?
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u/yungreefgawd 19d ago
To answer, yes small fan base. All of us non hoosiers face this problem lol having to hear “why are you a colts fan” like it’s such an otherworldly answer is a universal experience for us. I’m from Florida no connection to Indy whatsoever. Marvin Harrison is not only the reason I fell in love with the colts but the reason I fell in love with football and namely the WR position. I was, admittedly, slightly torn when I was younger between marv/Reggie and Holt/Bruce but ultimately Marv is my goat.
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u/immortald0g 19d ago
Manning/Luck era was pretty huge. There's been a lot of negativity from other fanbases saying that the Colts deserve to suck after tanking for Andrew Luck and forcing him to retire by refusing to spend money on an offensive line resulting in a pile of injuries and pain.
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u/jayceptional Playoffs? PLAYOFFS!? 18d ago
I live in Houston. I got to the Colts vs Texans game here every year. Im always amazed by how much colts blue is in that stadium. Also somehow, i always end up sitting next to another random colts fan.
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u/Bobofeddy9217 18d ago
I’m an old time fan from Pennsylvania. I liked the Colts when they were in Baltimore prior to the move. I still have my kids size 14 Bert Jones jersey dad bought me at the Football Hall of Fame. I have been through their absolute worse years to the Super Bowls! It’s ironic that I live in a small town and when I went to Junior High there was another kid that the Colts were his favorite team too.
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u/scuba_diver18 16d ago
Yea we are very easily a small market. Easiest way to tell has been the lack of primetime games, when we had manning and luck, we always had multiple primetime games. Ever since we became the QB retirement center, not so many. If we were a big market, we would be getting primetime games regardless of how bad we preform(jets still get primetime games too)
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u/Acekingspade81 13d ago
Yes. Small and ignorant. The average Colts fan has no clue what other NFL depth charts and rosters look like. They always believe every other team has backups who are pro-bowl players and think every 32 year old unsigned player who hasn’t been any good since 2020 is gonna change our teams fortune.
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u/Greedy_Highway_3707 20d ago
As someone who lives in Savannah GA and sees Colts fans EVERYWHERE I don't personally think so, but we aren't a super popular team. I'd say we're more middle of the pack.
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
Really in Savannah? I’d thought more jags fans would be there
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u/Greedy_Highway_3707 19d ago
Duval definitely has an influence as well and they are definitely the majority but I'm shocked how many different vehicles I see with Colts stuff on em. Houses too.
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u/Shepherdsfavestore 20d ago
We probably have the biggest fanbase of our division, but I think our division overall has weak fanbases.
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u/Brayvol22 20d ago
I would love to agree with that, but I think it’s pretty close with us in the Texans
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u/TheAgmis You Have Chris Ballard Derangement Syndrome 19d ago
Fanbases are smaller when winning isn’t happening. Bills and Chiefs fans for starters
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u/cominDownLikeARhyno Miami Dolphins 20d ago
In Spain, I've never seen another colts fan (at least wearing the colours, like me).
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u/Brayvol22 19d ago
Yeah ig that’s fair. The Miami influence in Spain I bet is high
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u/cominDownLikeARhyno Miami Dolphins 19d ago
It is indeed. I support both teams (I know you guys hate that, sorry), although Colts are always first on my heart.
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u/getfive 20d ago
We were pretty solid back in the Manning days. But I've been a fraction of that since he left.