On
July 26, 1972, in a truly unprecedented move, Robert Irsay, the owner of the
Baltimore Colts and Carroll Rosenbloom, the owner of the Los Angeles Rams,
trade ownership of their NFL teams.
Rosenbloom
wanted to retain ownership of a team while living in a more profitable city,
one that would satisfy his wife's ambition to live on the west coast and his
ambition to escape the D.C. press. Meanwhile, former Colts assistant Joe Thomas
was itching to become the general manager of a franchise, but there weren't any
offers. Then, when Rams owner Dan Reeves passed away, Thomas convinced his good
friend Irsay to buy the Rams for $19 million – in exchange; Irsay would
immediately become the owner of the Colts, then Rosenbloom the Rams'. Irsay,
who was looking to become an NFL owner anyway, also received an additional
three million dollars in the transaction, while Thomas was rewarded with the
general manager position of the Baltimore Colts.
Today,
a swap like this would be impossible to pull off. Not only are even the
lowliest of sports teams worth hundreds of millions of dollars, many of the teams
are now owned by corporations and a group of people, rather than just one
wealthy individual.
In
the end, football fans in both Baltimore and Los Angeles wound up getting
screwed. The Colts failed to win a single playoff game under Irsay and eventually
moved to Indianapolis. L.A. fans were initially on the much better end of the
spectrum, as the Rams made the postseason in every year that Rosenbloom was
their owner. But in 1979, Carroll mysteriously drowned to death while swimming
in the Atlantic Ocean, and control of the team was handed over to his wife,
Georgia Frontiere. Georgia then moved the team to Anaheim, married her seventh
husband, and in the mid-90's, she moved the Rams out of California altogether
and to St. Louis, Missouri.
However,
the franchises involved in the deal and the cities where the teams played would
end up winning Super Bowl anyways.
Los
Angeles would be the first city of the bunch to win a Super Bowl; in 1984 the
Raiders beat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII (28), 38-9.
The
St. Louis Rams and the Baltimore Ravens would both win Super Bowls in the early
2000’s as the Rams beat the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV (34), 23-16.
Finally the Ravens beat the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV (35), 34-7.
The
Colts who moved to Indianapolis in 1984 would win the Super Bowl in the late
2000’s against the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI (41) 29-17.
