Indianapolis Business Journal

What if Indianapolis hosted all of March Madness and nobody came? Well, that’s not likely, given that 68 teams will play and the venues have been approved to fill up to 25% of their seats. But local officials want to be conservative about predicting the economic impact—almost certainly to be in the nine figures—due to the unprecedented conditions behind this first-ever hosting effort, Mickey Shuey reports. Likewise, downtown restaurateurs are over the moon about serving an influx of diners, but they’re trying to keep their expectations earthbound, Susan Orr reports. Meanwhile, Indiana legislators are pleasantly surprised they’ve reached the halfway point in their latest session without a major COVID-related disruption, but their precautions haven’t prevented debate and drama. Lindsey Erdody brings us up to speed on the biggest issues, flashpoints and bills of the General Assembly’s session so far.