IBJNews

Indiana fair concerts going to expanded coliseum

Back to TopCommentsE-mailPrint

The Indiana State Fair Commission decided Thursday to permanently move its outdoor grandstand concerts indoors and authorized spending $3.8 million to help prepare their new home: The Pepsi Coliseum located nearby on the north side Indianapolis fairgrounds.

The coliseum that once hosted a concert by the Beatles will be expanded from its current seating capacity of about 8,000 to nearly 9,000 by 2014, commissioners said.

The announcement to move the concerts indoors permanently came about 60 days before a final report is due on the collapse of an outdoor stage and rigging that killed seven people and injured more than 40 others amid high winds before a concert by the country duo Sugarland. The commission earlier had decided concerts at this year's fair would be held at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis.

"We did not look at this as suites and luxury boxes," said Cindy Hoye, the fair's executive director. "What we looked at was as a very family oriented facility, which it's always been. It doesn't impede upon the wonderful Bankers Life Fieldhouse or Lucas Oil Stadium. It's taking and restoring what we have."

Hoye said the coliseum plans still are in the early stages and have not yet secured financing. She said the coliseum generates about 40 percent of the state fair's annual revenue.

The commission is due to begin discussing possible construction contracts for the project at its Feb. 9 meeting.

Spokesman Andy Klotz said the coliseum, constructed in 1939, will close this fall and reopen in time for the 2014 State Fair.

The Pepsi Coliseum currently is home to the Indianapolis Ice hockey team and has hosted sports, political and musical events through the years.

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Indiana Ice
    I love this rip and read Press Releases especially when full of mistakes and leaving more questions.

    The Indiana Ice play at the Coliseum, not the Indianapolis Ice. (Don't you think the State Fair folks should know the name of their tenant?)

    So where will the Indiana Ice play when the Coliseum is renovated for 2 seasons?

    I hope they keep some of the current old-school charm of the building.
  • Keep to the history
    The one thing i love about the coliseum is the nostalgia of it. Please keep the feel of the coliseum during renovation (not sure how you are going to add 1k seats).
  • Coliseum Renovation
    How can they say the planning is in the early stages, when they have announced the building is closing this fall and will be closed for almost 2 years? That puts the Indiana Ice hockey team on the street for 2 seasons. I hope the Fair Board books a lot of concerts. The Ice play 30+ games there every season. Maybe the Ice will move permanently to Bakers Life.

Post a comment to this story

COMMENTS POLICY
We reserve the right to remove any post that we feel is obscene, profane, vulgar, racist, sexually explicit, abusive, or hateful.
 
You are legally responsible for what you post and your anonymity is not guaranteed.
 
Posts that insult, defame, threaten, harass or abuse other readers or people mentioned in IBJ editorial content are also subject to removal. Please respect the privacy of individuals and refrain from posting personal information.
 
No solicitations, spamming or advertisements are allowed. Readers may post links to other informational websites that are relevant to the topic at hand, but please do not link to objectionable material.
 
We may remove messages that are unrelated to the topic, encourage illegal activity, use all capital letters or are unreadable.
 

Messages that are flagged by readers as objectionable will be reviewed and may or may not be removed. Please do not flag a post simply because you disagree with it.

Sponsored by
ADVERTISEMENT

facebook - twitter on Facebook & Twitter

Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ on Facebook:
Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ's Tweets on these topics:
 
Subscribe to IBJ
  1. Good ole' Obamacare. Thanks liberals and those who didn't bother to vote.

  2. Yes. Blame those who were too lazy to go vote Obama out and those who voted him in again. That's my take on it. I know folks won't get it on the left. OK. Start berating me now!

  3. Serioulsy, people are AGINST this project? Most communities would be salivating over a project like this. You'd rather have an empty eye-sore gas station and shacks posing as apartments? This project is exactly what BR needs. BUILD IT MR MAYOR. And yes, I am a BR resident, and have been for 20 years.

  4. As a St. Vincent employee of over 20 years, I am saddened and disheartened by this announcement. Unfortunately, as the healthcare "industry" continues on this political and corporate path, all that St. Vincent Hospital has stood for spiritually for its employees and this community is being sucked dry. I know it truly has no choice. It is not just Obamacare or just competition or just any single thing. This trend started long before I was even born when the government became involved in healthcare and it became an "industry." I grieve for those who will lose their jobs, one of whom may be me, but I also grieve for this hospital which I have served for over 20 years. May God give us and it the grace to withstand the future of healthcare.

  5. Why do people constantly harp on this issue and act ignorant about what a city population measures? A city's population is the city's population. There is no argument or debate about it. If you want to measure the density of a city--measure it. If you want to measure the size of a metropolitan area, then measure the metropolitan population. City boundaries cover different sized areas--and they always have (though the disparity has probably increased since about 1900 or so when more cities began annexing their surrounding communities). For example, San Francisco only covers 49 square miles while Houston cover nearly 600 square miles. No one argues about the population rankings of either city even though they clearly cover extremely different sized areas. Indianapolis is the 13 largest city by population in the U.S. That is a fact. While the population of a metropolitan area may give you a better sense of how large a community is, as noted, even metro areas can vary widely in the size of geographic area they cover--so that is not a perfect comparison either.

ADVERTISEMENT