Colts kick off preseason in new stadium

INDIANAPOLIS – With the flick of a giant switch, Colts owner Jim Irsay and the city’s mayor Greg Ballard opened a new era for Indianapolis football.

It crept through the roof at Lucas Oil Stadium. It oozed through the giant glass window that slid open at the north end zone.

Indianapolis fans, meet outdoor football. Just don’t let Sunday’s 20-7 drubbing against the Buffalo Bills ruin your first impression.

The opening of $720-million Lucas Oil Stadium during Indy’s preseason home opener against the Bills marked the first time the Colts played a home football game outdoors since the franchise moved from Baltimore in 1984.

The new stadium has a lot of amenities that its still-standing predecessor, the RCA Dome, lacked: more escalators, larger concourses, more seats, more bathrooms, a retractable roof and windows.

“This is a dream come true,” Irsay told the preseason crowd, minutes before the giant roof split and exposed the pale-blue August sky.

And he’s right. Football in the elements is the way the game is supposed to be played.

It’s how the Colts won their first Indy-era Super Bowl – in sloppy south Florida rain a year and a half ago.

And it’s how the NFL won over many American sports fans – during the 1958 NFL Championship, now called “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” That game was played outdoors in frigid Yankee Stadium when the (Baltimore) Colts beat the New York Giants in overtime.

There’s a hole in the roof at Texas Stadium in Dallas “so God can watch his favorite team play,” former Cowboy D.D. Lewis once said.

Even ice-cold hockey is played outside during the NHL’s annual Winter Classic game, to be housed in 2009 on New Year’s Day at Wrigley Field.

And now the Colts are moving outside too.

“It’s an awesome venue,” Colts coach Tony Dungy said after the game. “It’s going to be a great place for us to play.”

But if the Colts are moving outside, they’re only doing it with one foot forward. A retractable roof lets them stay inside to play when it’s not so nice out.

If it’s raining, the roof will be closed. If it’s snowing, the roof will be closed. If it’s bitterly cold, the roof will be closed.

Sure, there are benefits. Without the retractable roof, Indianapolis could never convince the NFL to let it host a Super Bowl, like it will in 2012. And the 63,000-plus fans in the stands will never have to bring a poncho or a blanket.

But all of those classic games – like rain-soaked Super Bowl XLI, or the Ice Bowl during the 1967 NFL Championship or “The Greatest Game Ever Played” – could never happen in Indianapolis.

It’s nice that the Colts will play outdoor football in Indianapolis. It’s just too bad that can all change with the flick of a switch.