I am… I was… I still sort of am… an Indianapolis Colts fan.  So, separating my emotions for just a few minutes to write this marketing and public relations perspective on the Indianapolis Colts organization’s decision to bench their starters against the New York Jets this past Sunday is not going to be easy. But I’ll try my best.

For those of you don’t follow the Indianapolis Colts or dislike football or sports altogether… here’s what happened in a nutshell.  The Indianapolis Colts were undefeated (14-0) and poised to achieve sports immortality by running the table and finishing the 2009-10 season without a loss.  But, someone in the Colts organization decided to bench the starters in the second half of play to 1) avoid injuries to starting players and 2) to give second string players a chance to get some actual playing experience just in case one of the starters does get injured in the Playoffs or Super Bowl.  The Colts lost the game 29-15 after serving up 19 straight points in the second half.  But they lost more than the game.  They lost respect and fan support.

A poll on WTHR.com shows that more than 70% of people who responded disagree with that decision.  In fact, if you read many of the online sports forums, listen to sports talk radio or mingle with co-workers in the break room, you’ll probably soon realize that people didn’t just “disagree” – they are pretty pissed  off.  The Colts organization is standing united behind that decision…for now.

Why are people so passionately angry?  In today’s society we want and need to be part of a winning team.  We like feel good stories.  We like to have bragging rights over our friends in New England, Pittsburgh, Dallas and other rival NFL cities.  We want to be able to tell our grandchildren and great grandchildren that we witnessed perfection.

The Indianapolis Colts organization cheated its fans and fans of all sports out of that opportunity.

From a public relations and marketing perspective, this is not good for the Indianapolis Colts.   Maybe Colts president Bill Polian, coach Jim Caldwell and owner Jim Irsay don’t care what the fans think. But maybe just for a second they should remember that the City of Indianapolis, State of Indiana and local & state taxpayers are still paying for the Colts’ beautiful new Lucas Oil Stadium.  And to what, watch them throw in the towel? (See I told you it would be hard to separate my emotion).  From a public relations standpoint, the Colts have some serious schmoozing to do with its fans.  Anything short of winning the Super Bowl and they will have failed miserably.  And if they do win the Super Bowl, there will always be that nagging question that the sports media will never let go of… “What if?”

Not only did this decision affect the Colts organization, it has collateral financial damage.  The Colts loss had an immediate impact on stadium vendors and local restaurants as the fans that left the game early weren’t in a festive mood.  Logo wear manufacturers and retail stores were most likely affected as people who were thinking about buying Colts merchandise are either too mad or just not as interested in making that purchase.  I was one of those fans who decided not to buy a new Colts jersey.  Local hotels will have vacancies now that hundreds, if not thousands of media folks won’t be chasing stories of a possible undefeated season in Indianapolis over the next five weeks. And the list goes on.

Somewhere around 6:00 p.m. this past Sunday, the Indianapolis Colts stopped being the good guys, play-their-hearts-out, small market NFL team.  It became all about business.  It became more about themselves and greed and less about the fans and leaving it all on the field.

Put 100 average NFL fans in a room and ask them who won the Super Bowl in 1992 and I’ll bet less than 10 percent know the answer.  (It was the Washington Redskins – I had to look it up online)  But ask that same group who the only undefeated team in NFL history is and what year they won, and I know that nearly all of them can tell you it was the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

My point is this.  If (and it’s a BIG if) the Colts win the Super Bowl in February, I doubt that anyone twenty or thirty years from now will have that fact on the tip of their tongue. Nobody will really care except a few broken down former Colt’s players and a group of hard core fans.  But had the Colts taken the risk, most everyone would have forgotten the champagne-popping ’72 Dolphins.  They’d be talking about those 2010 Colts.  And somewhere Peyton Manning, Dallas Clark, Jeff Saturday, Dwight Freeney, Gary Brackett and the rest of the team would be toasting to another team who ended their undefeated season in the fourteenth game.

As a Colts fan, I was ready to accept that they would possibly have another key injury.  I was prepared and ready to accept that they might get beat by the Patriots or Chargers. And I was okay with the thought that they might get beat in the Super Bowl by a team like the Saints.  I was okay with all of that. What I’m not okay with is that somebody in the Colts organization made the call to quit on the players, the fans and anyone else that needed to hitch their wagon to a dream and a perfect season. 

And, yes… I am still a Colts fan.