In less than two weeks, everything we had envisioned about the future of professional soccer in Indianapolis and the creation of a downtown municipal stadium for the Indy Eleven soccer team quickly came true. On April 25, Indy Eleven's owner accused the city of backing out of the stadium contract with head-spinning speed. Mayor Joe Hogsett then announced that the city had actually called off stadium negotiations because he believed the numbers didn't add up. Indy Eleven representatives disagreed. Hogsett also said the city is working with a private group of investors who believe it can bring a Major League Soccer franchise to the city. In fact, Hogsett just met with MLS officials in New York, and he revealed that he believes now is the right time for Indianapolis to rise to the top of American professional soccer.
Although this is a relatively simple overview, there are surprisingly many layers to this series of events. Indy Eleven's owner is the same owner of development company Keystone Group, which had planned to make the stadium the centerpiece of a $1.5 billion sports, business and residential campus downtown. In fact, construction has already begun on this site. The state Legislature gave the city of Indianapolis a way to use tax revenue to pay for most of the stadium, and now the city could do the same for a public soccer stadium it could build a few blocks east of Gainbridge Fieldhouse. I suggest using it. City and county legislators, who must approve taxing districts, were skeptical and unenthusiastic. Meanwhile, Indy Eleven continues to play on the IUPUI campus, building relationships and goodwill over his decade in the city's soccer community. Can there be two professional soccer franchises in the same city? And does this anonymous ownership group really have the wherewithal to even cover the cost of joining MLS, which was recently $500 million? I wonder?
IBJ reporter Mickey Shuey is uniquely qualified to cover this story because sports and real estate development businesses are IBJ's primary focus. This week on his IBJ podcast, Shuey and host Mason King help tease out and unravel all of these questions while presenting a clear timeline of events and predicting what will happen next.
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