Editorial: City’s reputation as great host scores 2025 WNBA All-Star Game

“Be prepared” is the Boy Scout motto and great advice for anyone in business, sports, philanthropy or, actually, anything at all. Case in point: This summer, the WNBA came calling on Indianapolis and Pacers Sports & Entertainment when the league hit a snag planning its 2025 All-Star Weekend.

Apparently, the city where the WNBA had been planning to play the game ran into a scheduling snafu, leading league officials to call PS&E—which also owns the Indiana Fever women’s basketball franchise—to see whether the city could host. Six weeks later, the WNBA announced next year’s game would be in Indianapolis.

Neither the league nor Pacers officials have said what city had been planning to host the game. But it doesn’t matter. What does is that PS&E and the city were ready to grab the opportunity.

“It all moved pretty quickly,” said PS&E CEO Mel Raines.

The WNBA’s decision comes just six months after the Pacers and Indianapolis hosted the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend, with events at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indiana Convention Center.

It also comes amid an Indiana Fever season that has redefined the WNBA’s impact in Indianapolis and the nation. This spring, the Indiana Fever took University of Iowa standout Caitlin Clark as the first pick in the WNBA draft, transforming the team.

The Fever are leading the WNBA in attendance this season, both for home and away games. More than 186,000 people attended a Fever home game from May through the break for the Olympics, averaging more than 15,500 per game. The figure marks a 265% increase in attendance from all of last season.

And Clark has already set several milestones in her rookie season, with a league-record 19 assists in a single game and as the first WNBA rookie to notch a triple-double (double-digit statistics in three categories in one game). She leads the WNBA in assists and is on pace to set a season record.

But maybe even more important than Clark is the city’s ability to organize and host big events.

Earlier this summer, the city hosted the largest-ever U.S. Olympic Swimming Team trials, an event staged in a football stadium for the first time. And three years ago, amid the pandemic and with little time to plan, the city hosted the entire NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

The WNBA All-Star Weekend seems like something the city was made to host.

The event has traditionally been smaller than the NBA All-Star Weekend, bringing in about 15,000 to 20,000 people. But attention for the league is reaching new heights, and Raines said organizers will bring new elements and programming to the event, including some kind of legacy project, which has been a hallmark of all of the city’s big events.

“I’m not concerned that we’ll pull it off,” she told IBJ. Sometimes in a short time frame, you can make magic happen.”

Organizers will be looking for help—and we expect the business and volunteer community will step up. That’s what Indianapolis is always prepared to do.•

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