Trading on a Discarded Past

Art Modell left the Browns name in Cleveland; the Colts instead work with the state to make license plates on the image of Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, etc.

The Indianapolis Colts have continued trading on the legacy of the Baltimore Colts since they got to the Hoosier State. The Colts seven retired numbers never played for Indianapolis. Johnny Unitas went so far once as to ask his number to be unretired so it was no longer associated with that franchise. So why oh why do the Colts find it necessary to trade on a legacy they so decisively abandoned 21 years ago?