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Neuburger’s new gig opens door for expanded FINA role:

Pros Consulting, an Indianapolis-based firm with a national reputation in the parks and recreation industry, has hired one of the biggest local names in sports and event management to help grow its firm in a new direction. Dale Neuburger, who stepped down as president of the Indiana Sports Corp. earlier this month, joined Pros as vice president of sport strategy and development. Neuburger, who headed ISC for 12 years, carries international clout-especially in Olympic sports. Pros founder and President Leon…

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Pacers gain traction with fans, sponsors: But Ron Artest’s return presents a marketing challenge

Pacers average attendance jumped from 16,558 last year to 16,995 this season. While it appears to be a small difference, it’s almost twice the percentage increase league-wide, and it pushed Pacers attendance higher than anytime since the 17,889 average in the second season in Conseco Fieldhouse. Capacity is 18,345. The Pacers enjoyed a slight attendance spike after Reggie Miller announced his retirement in February. But interest was already bubbling as the team was in the midst of an unlikely playoff…

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SPORTS: Pacers’ comeback year extends post-season roll

Or to pile on a landfill. A season on the stink. In the hours and days following that fateful evening of Nov. 19 at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Mich., where a momentary lapse turned into a monumental set of calamitous circumstances, it seemed there would be little for the Indiana Pacers to salvage. A championship was simply out of the question, and with the removal of that “One Goal”-the team’s marketing slogan-it seemed the season would be nothing more…

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Farming fortune from frustration: Mower mogul got tired of servicing ‘crap’

In 1979, Art Evans busted his knuckles repairing one too many lawn mowers. As a distributor for a nationally known manufacturer, Evans also rebuilt mowers. And refined transmissions and steering units. And spent countless hours on tedious tasks, like adding washers and tightening bolts. Working a few weeks ago in an old milk barn adjacent to his parents’ Putnam County home, Evans was a long way from the 1973 Indiana State Fair, where he first saw a zero-turning-radius lawn mower….

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Pondering the world from an economist’s viewpoint

In case you’ve ever wondered what it is like to look at life through the eyes of an economist, here are some questions to ponder: Has anyone else noticed that public schools these days are in the transportation business, the sports entertainment business, the restaurant business, the health care business, not to mention the day care business? It’s no wonder their jobs are so difficult. To those who decry the risk of diverting Social Security revenue towards personal accounts in…

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SPORTS: Age-defying Reggie bids a historic farewell

So much for the meat. Now all we have left is an uncertain supply of NBA playoff gravy. Lap it up while you can. Will we ever see another like No. 31? Will we ever see another who is such an inspiring combination of talent, loyalty, longevity and professionalism? Will we ever have another to represent us so nobly on the stage of professional sports, and to single-handedly carve so many memorable moments into our collective consciousness? We can only…

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Mission to Mexico to promote business: City officials, corporate leaders to take part in trip

Most Hoosiers visiting Mexico spend their time on the beaches of Cancun, Cabo San Lucas or Puerto Vallarta. But this fall, an excursion of a different kind will take local business and civic leaders south of the border to explore new opportunities for commerce and trade with Mexico. The week-long mission, scheduled for early September, is the brainchild of Sergio Aguilera, Mexico’s consul general for Indianapolis. He hopes that exposing Hoosiers to all facets of Mexican life-from government and the…

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Accounting firm looks overseas for help: Sarbanes-Oxley business sparks need for extra hands

Zietsman is one of several employees of PricewaterhouseCoopers who are in the United States to temporarily help the global accounting firm complete client audit work created by the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley corporate-accountability law. One rule, Section 404, requires corporations to assess the internal accounting controls they have in place to ensure their financial reporting is accurate and reliable-and requires accounting firms to vouch for those controls. Many public companies had to devote thousands of employee hours and millions of dollars to…

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SPORTS: Two cities, eight teams and miles of observations

ST. INDIANAPOLIS-OK, an explanation of the goofy dateline. I have just finished shuttling back and forth between St. Louis for the NCAA Men’s Final Four and Indy for the NCAA Women’s Final Four. Because of a speaking engagement in St. Louis and an obligation back here on the front end, I made three round trips in six days, covering 1,500 miles. It was worth it. Six games over four days resulting in two national champions, the University of North Carolina…

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Helping pets pop pills: Butler MBA student invents easy way to medicate animals

Rob Puma’s idea of a romantic date is not making dog treats in his kitchen. Yet that’s exactly what he found himself doing with his girlfriend over Valentine’s Day weekend in 2004. The unusual celebration of a lover’s holiday was part of what began as a semesterlong MBA project at Butler University four years ago and became, as trite as it sounds, a labor of love for Puma, the inventor of Medi-Crunch, a snack designed to help people medicate their…

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SUSAN WILLIAMS Commentary: A novel treatment for workplace injuries

SUSAN WILLIAMS Commentary A novel treatment for workplace injuries Oh, my aching back! How often we express that lament, or perhaps it’s an aching neck or shoulders or wrist pain. If you have escaped so far, you can surely identify a friend or co-worker who is hurting. Is it because we are aging or is something amiss, or both? Businessmen and -women, young and not so young, sit in front of a computer for hours every day. Many jobs require…

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SPORTS: And I repeat…the new stadium isn’t just for football

A lot of folks have pointed to the arrival of the Indianapolis Colts in 1984 as the beginning of the Indianapolis renaissance through sports. I would submit that the train already had left the station. The Indianapolis 500 notwithstanding, Indy’s first major national splash came four years before, in 1980, when the NCAA brought the Men’s Final Four to Market Square Arena. At that time, the event was just starting to bust out. The year before, Michigan State and Indiana…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY Don Altemeyer: Let’s rebuild Indiana’s rep as construction powerhouse A well-paying career More research A lesson from hoops

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY Don Altemeyer Let’s rebuild Indiana’s rep as construction powerhouse A well-paying career More research A lesson from hoops We could wear out our hands clapping like Gene Hackman’s Hoosiers, and it’s not going to change the fact that basketball in Indiana this year has been nothing short of unremarkable. Despite the state’s long-standing reputation as a basketball powerhouse, it’s the other teams playing in our arenas that are making history. There’s a similar story taking place,…

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School moratorium concerns industry: State officials studying whether too much money is being spent on non-educational construction projects

Designers of educational facilities are expressing concern over the future of school construction in Indiana as state officials mull guidelines that could bring changes to the process. Upon taking office in January, Gov. Mitch Daniels temporarily halted new school-construction borrowing to give the Department of Local Government Finance time to develop guidelines to ensure taxpayer money is spent wisely. The 120-day moratorium is a result of Daniels’ theory that school corporations spend too much money on projects unrelated to instruction….

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SPORTS: No more excuses for the fortunate Coach Davis

I find it semi-amusing that Mike Davis has to be publicly reminded that there are higher expectations for Indiana University basketball than seconddivision Big Ten finishes or NIT bids, that “We’re No. 4” is not an acceptable rallying cry, that the fans are demanding, that the boosters tend to be cranky and that, gee, a third mediocre season in a row might cost him his $800,000-a-year job. Well, yeah. So? Nonetheless, now the basketball literally is in Davis’ court. Which…

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McIntosh goes to bat for players at hearings: Former politician represents 3 stars grilled about steroids

Hoosiers who saw some of baseball’s biggest stars testify before a congressional committee about steroids may have caught a glimpse of former U.S. Rep. David McIntosh. The Republican Muncie native served Indiana’s second district in the House of Representatives from 1995 until 2001, and he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2000. He is currently a partner at the Washington, D.C., office of international law firm Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw LLP. Commuting from Indiana to the nation’s capital, McIntosh’s legal…

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Wood flooring companies put bounce under ball: Hoops tourney signals competitive bidding season

With March Madness, the NBA playoff race and high school state tournaments reaching a feverish pitch, many Hoosiers are eyeing bouncing balls and hanging hoops. But Kevin Price and his staff are more focused on the floor below. Price’s company has carved out a profitable niche supplying, painting, polishing and servicing the hardwood that keeps basketballs bouncing. “I’m sure a lot of people just think of it as a floor,” said Price, Indianapolis’ regional sales manager for Cincinnati Floor Co….

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: There are reasons for rising school construction costs More technology More sports

Public school officials around the state have received sharp criticism in recent years for authorizing construction that critics decry as ostentatious and excessively expensive. Chief among the targets, but not exclusively, are athletic facilities that are often perceived as superior to all but the largest of our NCAA Division I colleges and universities. Without taking sides in the fray, I would simply remind everyone that K-12 education is basically a community function driven by local decisions. The bulk of the…

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VIEWPOINT: Congress and Indiana class actions The class-action problem CAFA’s fix Unintended consequences

Congress recently passed the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA), intending to lower the costs and risks class-action litigation imposes on businesses. CAFA works primarily by moving certain large class actions out of state courts and into federal courts. This seemingly elegant solution assumes that litigating in federal court will be quicker, cheaper and yield a better result than litigating in state court. However CAFA’s complexity, combined with the good job most state courts are already doing, undermines that…

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No backing down: Irsay leads crusade to strengthen NFL revenue sharing

Irsay became a central figure in the NFL franchises’ small-market vs. large-market battle at the annual owners’ meetings in Hawaii March 21-23. He told reporters he isn’t sure how long his-or any-team can be competitive in a city the size of Indianapolis if large-market teams have their way with the league’s revenue-sharing formula. The Indiana General Assembly is in the midst of a fierce debate over funding for a $600 million retractable-roof stadium for the Colts, but that could be…

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