Stadium Proposal

Discussion in 'Indy Eleven' started by spidermonkey317, Jan 10, 2019.

  1. spidermonkey317

    Oct 1, 2013
    Montana
    Club:
    Indy Eleven
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    stphnsn repped this.
  2. stphnsn

    stphnsn Member+

    Jan 30, 2009
    i'd like to see them build a stadium, but i don't want to see anything like the financing arrangements they've proposed in the past.
     
  3. jeffcoop

    jeffcoop BigSoccer Supporter

    Jul 11, 2006
    Central Indiana
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The brief article on the club website makes it sound like they're looking at financing measures similar to what they attempted last time: taxes generated by the facility (now expanded to include the apartments, offices, retail, and hotel) would be used to finance the stadium. There's also a reference to "developer-backed bonds," whatever that means. The club is promising to pay all operating expenses and cost overruns.

    There's too little detail to say for sure, but though this proposal might be marginally better (financially) than the last one, it also looks to be subject to many of the same criticisms.
     
  4. jeffcoop

    jeffcoop BigSoccer Supporter

    Jul 11, 2006
    Central Indiana
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  5. stphnsn

    stphnsn Member+

    Jan 30, 2009
    It seems like a transportation nightmare. One of the great things about downtown is the interstates run in every direction so you can get the hell out of there just as easily as you get in, at least if you know where to park.
     
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  6. Tobias C

    Tobias C Member+

    Columbus Crew
    United States
    Mar 6, 2014
    Toledo, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    As a Crew fan, I like Indianapolis for MLS. Would be a nice, easy enough away game.

    The proposal seems kind of like Columbus' with the stadium just being the anchor of a bigger mixed use development, which is probably more palatable for the general public of the city, I imagine.

    Hope you guys can pull it off!
     
    BTL97 and jeffcoop repped this.
  7. jeffcoop

    jeffcoop BigSoccer Supporter

    Jul 11, 2006
    Central Indiana
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Thanks. I hope so too. And I'm glad the Crew are staying put.

    I confess that I don't really understand the inclusion of apartments in the plan. Game days and other event days generate crowds, noise, and traffic--none particularly conducive to residential living. I suppose that, if you're a hardcore fan, it could be cool to have an apartment with a field view, although watching from home would not be the same as being part of the stadium crowd. But as for apartments on the other side of the building, what would be the advantage to living there? Is not having to worry about parking or walking to the game worth it?
     
  8. stphnsn

    stphnsn Member+

    Jan 30, 2009
    it's a selling point to get the project approved. locals don't want the area used for just a stadium that's used 20 times per year. they want attractions that are going to be used year round. apartments, retail, restaurants, etc. are all aimed at making the development an every day economic engine instead of just a game day one.
     
  9. jeffcoop

    jeffcoop BigSoccer Supporter

    Jul 11, 2006
    Central Indiana
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Oh, I understand the desirability of a mixed-use development, and offices, bars, and restaurants (and maybe a hotel) make sense-stadium use won't usually conflict with office use, and both would provide customers for the bars and restaurants. But retail is dying, and I still don't understand the appeal of apartments right by a stadium from an occupant's perspective.
     
  10. Tobias C

    Tobias C Member+

    Columbus Crew
    United States
    Mar 6, 2014
    Toledo, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think when it comes to apartments/condos in close proximity to a stadium.... that sort of development is going to be most viable in your downtown, where the type of resident attracted to living in a dense, busy, lively area would be fine living next to a stadium...the same way they're fine with living next to loud bars. Mostly younger adults with no children, and maybe some empty nesters.

    I saw the proposal for building in Broad Ripple. I don't know anything about Indianapolis or its neighborhoods, but from a cursory look at the area on Google maps, it seems like a burgeoning little hip neighborhood....but not a huge dense urban area like your downtown. Its possible an area like that might not appreciate a huge stadium plopping down...immediately adjacent to a bunch of houses. Minnesota Uniteds new stadium is kind of like that too though so maybe it could work.
     
  11. stphnsn

    stphnsn Member+

    Jan 30, 2009
  12. stphnsn

    stphnsn Member+

    Jan 30, 2009
    anyone go to the big rally at the statehouse today?
     
  13. jeffcoop

    jeffcoop BigSoccer Supporter

    Jul 11, 2006
    Central Indiana
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Not me. I doubt I would have gone even if work had permitted. I went in 2015, and it was kind of neat to meet and chat briefly some of the players. But I think I’m more cynical about such events now.
     
  14. stphnsn

    stphnsn Member+

    Jan 30, 2009
    They were really pushing it at the ISA league scheduling meetings last weekend. I wonder if they had a decent turnout.
     
  15. jeffcoop

    jeffcoop BigSoccer Supporter

    Jul 11, 2006
    Central Indiana
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    "Under the amended proposal, the Indy Eleven would need to enter into a 25-year agreement with a Major League Soccer franchise."

    What the heck does this mean? Indy would have to obtain an MLS expansion franchise? Indy would have to affiliate with an existing MLS franchise? The former would essentially be a deal-killer--the next round of MLS expansion is probably five years away, and there are no guarantees that Indy would be a serious contender in that round. And the latter simply makes no sense as a condition--how would it make Indy Eleven a more financially stable and long-term viable team?
     
  16. jack sticker

    jack sticker Red Card

    Rangers
    United States
    Jun 5, 2018
    If Indy has a stadium and people willing to pay $150mil they will be good to go.
     
  17. stphnsn

    stphnsn Member+

    Jan 30, 2009
    I doubt this. If a group has a billionaire investor, a stadium, and a new market, MLS will listen. We have one of those three at this point.
     
  18. jeffcoop

    jeffcoop BigSoccer Supporter

    Jul 11, 2006
    Central Indiana
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Right. Given the way MLS expansion fees have ballooned, I don't see this ownership group being able to swing it. It would require the involvement of someone like Irsay or the Simons.
     
  19. GenWRX

    GenWRX Member

    Nov 16, 2016
    Club:
    Indy Eleven
    From my reading of it, the 25-year stipulation it wasn't a 25-year agreement with MLS. The Eleven and the CIB have to enter into a 25-year agreement before taxes can be allocated. The MLS part was that the agreement had to be between CIB and an MLS team. Meaning the Eleven would need to be part of MLS.

    I agree with Jeff. Even with a stadium, I don't believe that Indy is a preferred choice for MLS. Doesn't Sacramento check all the boxes, including a recently added billionaire investor?
     
  20. JDogindy

    JDogindy Member

    Nov 20, 2014
    Club:
    Indy Eleven
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It'd be a fookin' disaster, that's what. I've been up and down Broad Ripple Avenue since moving to College Ave back in 2016, and the side streets can barely handle Thanksgiving Eve shopping at the Kroger, let alone Friday night at the bars. Throw in soccer matches, or a Cathedral football game (if it's built there, they'd move the games there from Tech), and you got yourself congestion. The city already has as white elephant up there with the parking garage, and the last thing they need is something that people would get trapped in.

    As much as I'd be on board with spreading things out of downtown, Indianapolis was never designed with that in mind. We still have all that free space on the other side of the White River that's yet to be used, or heck, why not near Twin Aire? It'd be close to major streets (Keystone, Rural, and Southeastern) that, in turn, lead to the interstate, and as it is, is in a part of town that could use development in the worst way.
     
  21. JDogindy

    JDogindy Member

    Nov 20, 2014
    Club:
    Indy Eleven
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  22. stphnsn

    stphnsn Member+

    Jan 30, 2009
    My mom asked me how excited I was for the 11's new stadium yesterday. Her eyes glazed over before I got done explaining why it's unlikely to happen based on the reports of the language in the last version of the bill.
     
  23. JDogindy

    JDogindy Member

    Nov 20, 2014
    Club:
    Indy Eleven
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    People, in general, don't like it when you explain to them technical jargon that lies within the type of literature that dwells within legislative bills.

    Plus, more likely than not, somebody's going to suggest something like last time along the lines of "Why not renovate Carroll?" and the deal dies a miserable death.
     
  24. stphnsn

    stphnsn Member+

    Jan 30, 2009
    jeffcoop repped this.

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