Editorial: Let’s rally around Olympic trials and cheer on swimmers to Paris

This is a rah-rah editorial. It’s an appeal to fill up Lucas Oil Stadium—or at least fill up the sections around the pool that’s been installed there—to cheer on the Olympic hopefuls swimming in the USA team trials starting June 15.

As IBJ (and every other local news outlet) reported this week, the pools inside Lucas Oil Stadium are finished, as is the decking, lighting and other staging that will be part of the nine-day swimming event.

But ticket sales for the event are failing to meet projections, and organizers say they need a big push to put more people into seats, especially for the nightly finals races that determine who will go to the Olympics. (Preliminary races, which start at 11 a.m. daily, are a chance to see more local swimmers.)

This is the first time the swimming trials have been staged in a football stadium, and the goal is to set a record for the number of ticketholders at an indoor swimming event.

That record is roughly 16,000. USA Swimming hopes to attract about 30,000 spectators on opening night of the trials (that’s about capacity for this event) and then average about 16,000 people on each of the next eight nights.

IBJ’s Mickey Shuey reported that, so far, ticket sales are about halfway to those goals.

“We’re in a good spot where I feel really comfortable that we’re going to break the world record on opening night,” USA Swimming CEO Tim Hinchey III said Wednesday. “We’re going to be working hard to invite as many people [as possible]. If you have a chance to see some of the world’s greatest athletes and Olympians, I’m hoping that’ll draw some people into it. But you’ll see a lot of marketing here soon.”

Tickets to preliminary races and heats, which run in the mornings and early afternoon, start at $15 per seat for the 600 level. Evening races have tickets starting at $35.

All who attend opening night are expected to receive a T-shirt commemorating the hoped-for attendance record.

But don’t go for a T-shirt. Go because it’s an opportunity to see world-class athletes competing at the highest level. Go because it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than trying to get to Paris. Go because the swimming trials will be on prime time television for nine straight days—and that’s nine days of amazing advertising for the city of Indianapolis.

In a special section included with this week’s issue, we have pulled together a lot of information to help you figure out when to go and how to participate in the festivities that will surround the trials.

We’ve got the details on nightly themes, which events take place on which days, and what concerts will be staged on Georgia Street as part of USA Swimming Live. You can learn about the Indiana companies involved in creating the pools and atmosphere inside the stadium. Plus, see info about some of the local swimmers trying to make the Olympic team.

Most important, go see these athletes and cheer them to Paris.•

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