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Duh.
You win the ‘cogent and truth’ award with one 3-letter word Ha! And for both article 1 and 2 today.
Indianapolis Mayor thought he could do it on his own and had to bring in support.
Sad Indy Eleven and the Eleven Park project was tabled. Now that are where the Eleven Park was to be built is a worse eyesore with defunct Yellow Freight trailers sitting on the space than the old DiamondChain building.
That are would have been a great catalyst for the new Indiana State Park westward.
The Simons were a part of this from the beginning. There is additional funding sources going on behind the scenes as well, if anything it will be more of a surprise if this doesn’t get done. The city has the funding, will eventually have the land, and MLS wants to take out a USL team.
So much revisionist history to think that Keystone had the juice to get an MLS team across the line. They didn’t and that was the ongoing problem. Ultimately, the city was going to be left with a stadium that might have an upper tier 2nd division USL team. They want to create a 1st division league, however there is no evidence that the marketplace will tolerate 2 leagues at any scale.
Mayor had to kill the Eleven project so he could spoon feed his bosses/contributors the Simons. A way to control/eliminate any competition for Gainbridge Arena for other bookings like concerts, etc. Can’t have competition now can we?
This.
MLS dictates who gets to play and Ozdemir/Keystone were not going to be invited. Hogsett had two choices–stick with Ozdenir/Keystone and forever be a minor league soccer town or partner with a group MLS approves of (Simon/PSE) and have a legit shot at an MLS team. Time will tell if the right decision was made but history tells us Indy usually wins when it goes big.
how many concerts are booked into Victory Field? How many at the IUPUI track and field stadium? We have a concert facility right in White River Park. Why would you want to build another one?
What outdoor stadium is going to compete with Gainbridge and Lucas for large concerts. The Lawn at White River holds about 50,000…Indy 11 stadium about 20,000. The 11 are a minor league team. Indy usually doesn’t build big stadiums for minor league teams (The Indians got their stadium because they’d been around for ever, and were locally very popular…but they only got the stadium after Bush was basically declared unsound and unusable).
oh, and the Simons have been the “bosses/contributors” to every mayor since Goldsmith, along with the Lilly folks and a few other families. Like most any other city, they who have the gold make the rules. And so far, that has worked out pretty well for Indy.
And Chris Beatty, the former IU football player, was not killed as part of the riots attendant to the BLM protests. He was killed in a shooting away from the riot area, by a person not connected with the riot or protests. Yep, windows were smashed, graffiti painted on buildings. But its been fixed, and if that’s what’s keeping you from being downtown, you have other issues with which to contend…
The same people complaining about having a new MLS franchise in Indy are just like the same people who complained about the Colts in 1984 and the Pacers in 1967 and probably the Indy 500 in 1911 and the Indians in 1902. Good thing nobody listened to them.
Exactly.
Garber didn’t come in town for two days just to watch the Pacers and talk about something that could have been discussed over the phone. Garber also met with the governor and other city and state officials. The city will either purchase an already existing team or start a new club, either way the state will back it and the city will get their team. It’s clear and the handwriting is on the wall. Garber came to view the sites and progress and to get a personal confirmation that the city and state are in agreement because Indy is definitely ideal for a team period.
Prediction: Vancouver franchise moves to Indy.