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The Indiana State Fairgrounds & Event Center on Wednesday announced a new naming-rights deal with Corteva Agriscience for the Fairgrounds Coliseum.
The Indianapolis-based agricultural sciences company has agreed to pay $4 million over the next decade for the venue to be called Corteva Coliseum. The agreement is effective immediately, with new signage scheduled to debut on the building Wednesday morning.
The agreement replaces a 10-year naming-rights deal between the fairgrounds and Indiana Farmers Insurance that began in 2014. That deal was valued at $6 million and coincided with a $53 million renovation to the property.
Cindy Hoye, executive director of the Indiana State Fair Commission, said the partnership with Corteva brings together two parties committed to growing agriculture in the state. It also expands on the company’s existing relationship with the fairgrounds after it secured naming rights to the Corteva Agriscience FFA Pavilion in 2019.
“What an amazing fit for a partner at the fairgrounds, [to have] this beacon of Corteva on top of the Coliseum and on top of the words ‘Indiana State Fair,’ for all the community to see,” she said.
To many, the fairgrounds facility is best-known as Pepsi Coliseum. The soft-drink company acquired the naming rights for the venue in 1992 and kept them until 2012. Pepsi was the first and only company to put its name on the facility until the Indiana Farmers deal was announced.
“Indianapolis is our home and our ties to the Hoosier state and the Indiana State Fairgrounds run deep,” Chuck Magro, CEO of Corteva, said in written remarks. “The Corteva Coliseum reflects an important commitment to our community and we’re grateful to be a part of such an iconic venue that means so much to our employees, friends and neighbors.”
Corteva made Indianapolis its global headquarters in early 2022. It has more than 20,000 employees worldwide, including about 1,500 on its Zionsville Road campus, about 15 miles northwest of downtown. The campus features 14 buildings, 42 greenhouses and dozens of labs where workers produce new products to help farmers increase yield and control insects, fungus and weeds.
The company has Indianapolis roots. Eli Lilly and Co. and Dow Chemical Co. in 1989 formed DowElanco, a joint venture meant to produce agricultural products. In 1997, Dow acquired full ownership and renamed the operation Dow AgroSciences.
In 2015, Dow and DuPont announced plans to merge, then divide into three independent companies. A year later, the merged companies became DowDuPont, with Indianapolis being named as one of its “global business centers.”
In 2018, Corteva Agriscience was unveiled as the agricultural division’s new name. (“Cor” is Latin for “heart,” and “teva” is ancient Hebrew for “nature.”) A year later, DowDuPont spun off Corteva as an independent company.
In 2017, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. signed an agreement under which Corteva would create 600 additional jobs in central Indiana by 2028 in exchange for up to $26 million in conditional tax credits. The city of Indianapolis also gave the company $30 million in incentives to remain in the city under its new corporate structure.
Hoye said the fair commission is continuing to evaluate how it moves forward with programming for the coliseum in the coming years, particularly with the Indy Fuel moving to a new home at the Fishers Event Center this year after 10 seasons on 38th Street.
In 2027, IU Indianapolis is expected to move its men’s basketball games back to its campus when it opens a new arena. The school has played its games at the 6,800-seat coliseum since 2014, but the university (playing as IUPUI) has had limited success in filling seats at the venue.
In more than 120 games at the facility, average attendance has been about 1,100 with a peak coming in the program’s first year there, when it drew 1,527 fans per game.
The agreement with Corteva and the Fuel’s move to Fishers, Hoye said, “gives us an opportunity to look at the calendar a lot differently than we had before, and really we’re looking at expansion.”
That includes continuing its long relationship with Mecum Auctions Inc., which added a fall event to its Indianapolis calendar in 2023 and 2024 in addition to its annual spring auction.
Additionally, the fair commission is leaning more heavily into cheerleading, gymnastics and wrestling programming for the facility, as well as the Pop Weaver Pavilion.
Hoye said the fairgrounds also has a new partnership in place with TPH Hockey for youth hockey programming that will bring public skating back to the coliseum for the first time in decades.
IBJ reporter John Russell contributed to this story.
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One has to wonder what the future of the Coliseum is? It was an excellent hockey facility, but the Fuel has bolted to Hamilton County. IUPUI basketball, if all goes as planned, will eventually move out. Obviously the building is used during the fair, but how much use is it getting outside the fair weeks.? Just wondering.