Indianapolis announced Thursday it will put in a bid for a Major League Soccer expansion team, potentially placing in jeopardy the plans that are underway to develop Eleven Park, a more than $1 billion mixed-use development anchored by an Indy Eleven soccer stadium.
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said in a press conference that his staff has submitted to the Metropolitan Development Commission a proposal for the creation of a new professional sports development area to bring a soccer stadium to Downtown Indianapolis near the Downtown Transit Center. The proposal also includes a prospective ownership group and mechanism for public funding.
City officials declined to share who might own the proposed team or estimate how much money it would take to field the team. An ownership group that includes investors led by an unidentified “experienced sports executive” is forming to help pay the club’s franchise fee, city officials said. The San Diego Football Club, which will become the 30th MLS team when it debuts in 2025, paid a $500 million expansion fee.
More:Indianapolis wants an MLS team, here’s how the expansion process works
“Indianapolis has long been a marquee destination for professional and amateur sports,” Hogsett said during a press conference late Thursday where he announced that he’s leading the charge to get Indianapolis a soccer franchise. “A significant part of this collective success stems from our history of local and state collaboration, the ability to articulate a common vision and a corporate and community commitment to seeing the city’s teams succeed.”
Hogsett said he flew to New York City on Monday to speak with Major League Soccer Commissioner Dan Garber about the prospect of a club coming to Indianapolis.
The new Professional Sports Development Area would be an alternative to the one already established for Eleven Park and Indy Eleven. The financing framework for the new PSDA is the same one outlined in Senate Bill 7, adopted in 2019, which Keystone and Indy Eleven use for the stadium at Eleven Park.
The MDC will discuss the resolution at its next meeting at 1 p.m. Wednesday and then it will go to the Indianapolis City-Council for approval. The team owners will decide which of the two sites would serve as the stadium’s location, city officials said. The resolution will go back to the MDC for approval by the end of June and then would be submitted to the state.
City officials said 355 E. Pearl St. has been identified as the alternative site for the soccer stadium. The one-mile radius around the stadium will comprise the new PDSA.
Indy Eleven submitted a bid to join MLS in Jan. 2017, but it failed to make the cut, getting passed over for Detroit, Cincinnati, Nashville and Sacramento. Indy Eleven was also a candidate when the league revisited expansion again in 2019, but it’s unclear where it stood in the pecking order.
City officials say the city is now at a competitive advantage to compete for an MSL franchise.
“I am well aware that this new venture presents no guarantee, but every great achievement in our city’s history has begun where opportunity was met with action,” Hogsett said, noting the city’s NFL and NBA franchises as well as its track record with hosting large-scale events such as NBA All-Star Weekend, Indy 500 and the Super Bowl.
What this means for Indy Eleven
It’s not clear what the city’s attempts to bring MLS soccer here will mean for the Indy Eleven, a United Soccer League team that in the hierarchy of the sport falls below MLS, or for the Eleven Park development.
The development by the Indianapolis-based Keystone Group would occupy about 20 acres currently under construction at the former Diamond Chain Co. site downtown near the White River. Keystone head Ersal Ozdemir, also owns the Indy Eleven.Hours before the City made its announcement, Keystone Group issued a statement in which it criticized Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration for trying to walk away from the Eleven Park project.
City officials say there was never a deal with Keystone and Indy Eleven, just negotiations. When they analyzed the numbers, it was determined the existing professional sports development area would not generate enough revenue to cover the funding gap for the Eleven Park stadium, they say.
Keystone, tells a different story. In a statement accusing Hogsett’s negotiation team of “shopping state legislation championed by Indy Eleven, working behind closed doors to offer publicly-owned real estate and public financing to the highest bidder, with assurances that neither the redevelopment of this riverfront parcel nor the continuation of the Indy Eleven as a team would be requirements for city support.”
Keystone, which owns the site through a subsidiary did not respond to a request for a follow-up interview on the record.In the statement, the company said the mayor’s office has refused to submit a professional sports development area map approved by the Indianapolis City Council in December to the State Budget Committee as required. The resolution approved an area plan for a special taxing district for the Eleven Park project.
“This is more than disappointing – it’s a shocking reversal of Mayor Hogsett’s public support for this project at the 2023 groundbreaking, for the dozens of local investors in this team, the thousands of Marion County jobs committed by Indiana companies who have been working on this project, and the tens of thousands of Indy Eleven fans in Indiana and across the country,” the statement said.
Plans for Eleven Park call for it be anchored by a 20,000-seat multipurpose stadium that would become the new home to the Indy Eleven soccer team.The project, which is expected to be completed in phases, also would have more than 600 apartments overlooking White River, 205,000-square feet of office space, and more than 197,000 square feet for retail and restaurants. A hotel is also planned at this site as well as a parking garage. Amenities would include public plazas and greenspace.City Councilor Kristin Jones, who represents the district that includes the site, called the vision for an area “a dream come true,” in a statement released Thursday.Now, she added, she hopes the city will move forward with the plans to bring a stadium there.”Today, while on the one hand, I am pleased that Indianapolis remains a strong market for professional sports, I am disappointed that the decision was made to disregard the hard work, investment, and legislation that my council colleagues and state legislators had already passed in a bi-partisan manner for the former Diamond Chain site on the river,” she said. “I am hopeful that the original approved site will continue to be utilized for any soccer-specific stadium.”
Current plans call for Eleven Park to be financed through a public-private partnership. The Indiana General Assembly approved legislation to help fund the stadium in 2019. Taxes from a special tax district from the development would pay back 80% of the cost of the stadium. Indy Eleven would shoulder the remaining 20% of the cost, upfront or annually, and cover any shortfalls if needed.
The final version of that legislation removed a stipulation that Indy Eleven must sign a deal with Major League Soccer franchise by 2022 before starting construction on the stadium. It permitted the existing team to play there.
Keystone broke ground on Eleven Park in May 2023. The company called the planned stadium is MLS eligible.
Contact IndyStar investigative reporter Alexandria Burris at aburris@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @allyburris
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