Incoming Pacers CEO ready for role after overseeing $400M Gainbridge renovation

Mel Raines is ready for this.

With the 2024 NBA All-Star Game—an event she has helmed since 2017—now in the rearview, Raines has her next role with Pacers Sports and Entertainment in her sights.

She will become CEO in June when longtime Pacers executive Rick Fuson steps down from the post after 40 years with the company.

The move will make Raines the first female chief executive in franchise history and only the third active female top executive for an NBA franchise. It’s something the politico turned entertainment executive has spent the past nine years working toward, as she’s risen in the ranks from manager of the Pacers’ facilities to her current role as chief operating officer.

And it’s something those close to Raines say she’s unequivocally earned through her success in managing a $400 million renovation of Gainbridge Fieldhouse and overseeing Indianapolis’ turn as All-Star host last weekend.

“I believe that general management, much like basketball, is a career, and it’s a talent—and that’s what Mel has,” Fuson told IBJ. “I’ve never had a doubt about Mel’s ability to pick up on what we do here, and there’s never been a moment of wavering in my mind about how that [promotion] could happen.”

Raines will join Jeanie Buss, owner and president of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Cynthia Marshall, CEO of the Dallas Mavericks, as the top female executives in the NBA.

That’s important, given men’s dominance in the entertainment industry, said Allison Melangton, who was president of the 2012 Super Bowl Host Committee. Raines was the committee’s vice president of event operations.

“It gives an example for other women, that they can attain those positions,” Melangton said.

A South Bend native and Indiana University alum, Raines spent most of her career in Washington, D.C, serving the likes of Sen. Dan Coats and Vice President Dick Cheney and working at several lobbying firms. She also helped run eight Republican national conventions, which take place every four years in line with general elections.

Before starting at PS&E, she most recently worked as chief of staff for Rep. Susan Brooks, who served Indiana’s 5th Congressional District until 2021.

But it was that stint on the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis that caught the attention of Pacers executives and other local leaders, who took notice of her knack for event logistics and problem solving.

Fuson worked closely with Raines on developing the Super Bowl Village—a first-time concept that has since become an NFL bid requirement. He and others said Raines was an expert at navigating the intricacies and politics of bringing partners to the table to make that and other parts of the weeklong event a success.

“I worked with her in a number of capacities through the Super Bowl, and she showed she has great skill and a wide-thinking personality,” Fuson said. After that, he kept an eye out for an opportunity to bring Raines onboard with the Pacers. When a position managing the PS&E facilities became available, he thought she’d be a natural fit.

‘Perfect choice’

Raines said she is grateful that Fuson and other Pacers executives gave her an avenue out of politics and into the sports and entertainment business.

“I’m very much looking forward to working with different parts of the company that I work with now, but in a different role, and digging in and learning more about some of the areas of business that I haven’t been directly over,” Raines said. “I’m here because Rick saw something in me that I’m not even sure I saw in myself, to be honest.”

Melangton said the Pacers made a “perfect choice” in hiring Raines to fill Fuson’s shoes because her blend of experience working in both politics and live entertainment (Gainbridge Fieldhouse in 2023 hosted more than 170 ticketed events) is unique among leaders not only in the NBA but in sports as a whole.

“There are a couple of things that are similar in the business part of sports and politics,” Melangton said. “One of the biggest is that things are always changing, and [leaders] have to be very agile and responsive and be able to pivot quickly and easily and maintain critical thinking and make good decisions. That’s something Mel has proven herself to be extremely good at doing, on a consistent basis.”

The Pacers were 27th of 30 NBA franchises in market value last year, according to Forbes, clocking in at $2.9 billion. But the team, along with many NBA franchises, has seen its value surge the past few years. (Forbes says the league’s sponsorship growth and recent blockbuster prices for team purchases are responsible.)

The Pacers’ current estimated value is 61% higher than in 2022, Forbes reports, and its revenue is increasing, from $243 million in 2019 to $264 million in 2022 and $263 million in 2023.

The Pacers also play in one of the smaller NBA markets, but the franchise has made big investments in players over the last year, including an extension for All-Star Tyrese Haliburton, who was a focal point of All-Star Weekend.

Steve Simon, who owns the franchise with his father, Herb Simon, said Raines’ hiring as CEO puts the company “in amazing hands” and preserves the efforts underway to grow the franchise.

He credited Fuson with identifying Raines as “a great and strategic leader.” And while succession talk didn’t come to the fore until mid-2022, Fuson said he immediately felt Raines was the right choice.

“I think she’s ready, and I think it’s time for that to happen,” Fuson said.

‘Really accomplished’

Susan Brooks said she is expecting big things from Raines in her new post, because she’s consistently proven her value as a leader.

“Mel is one of the most humble yet accomplished—I mean, really accomplished—professionals I’ve ever met,” she said.

And Brooks said Raines is a team builder and a “logistics guru” who is also calm in the face of challenges. She said Raines’ work in politics will help her be a better leader because Raines isn’t “just a Republican operative” but a businessperson focused on solving problems and making Indianapolis better.

“She has the ability to get things done and knows who to call if there are difficult issues—and there always are when you run an organization like [the Pacers] and a huge facility like Gainbridge,” she said. “She has that background and experience, and she’s a master at it.

“I don’t know of a single enemy of hers. She has tremendous respect on both sides of the aisle, and that’s a gift. She can get things done, whether it’s at the Indiana General Assembly or at City Hall.”

Raines spent four years as lead for the Pacers franchise on the substantial Gainbridge Fieldhouse renovations, which wrapped up late last year with the completion of the Commission Row building adjacent to Bicentennial Unity Plaza.

She was point person for the Pacers throughout their 2019 negotiations with state and city officials to secure funding for that renovation. Raines said her role in orchestrating the 25-year deal was largely focused on the arena itself and determining timelines for the project.

“That was a project unlike anything I had ever managed in my career—and on an incredibly short time frame,” Raines said.

Adding to the challenge is that the facility was being used throughout the renovations. “That really led to a lot more planning and being involved at a micro level,” she said, “but we had such a good team working on it every single day.”

Additional projects could be in the offing. The 2019 agreement includes provisions for future improvements at the fieldhouse, including an opportunity to capitalize on up to $120 million in technology improvements through 2036.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told IBJ Raines is a natural fit for the Pacers CEO role, given her background and a near decade of apprenticeship under Fuson.

“Mel is an excellent executive with strong relationships around the league and throughout her home state of Indiana,” he said. “She’s more than ready for this opportunity, and it’s a testament to Rick for assembling such a talented leadership team over these many years.”

Melangton added that taking over the top post fresh off what’s been considered a successful All-Star Weekend doesn’t hurt.

“Mel did an incredible job leading the planning on this, and it was important for her in her new role to be able to do that,” she said. “But it was also important for this community to show all the things that we’re made of, and we did it again.

“Mel has embraced the Indianapolis model since she moved back here and worked on the Super Bowl, and that model is engaging and involving as many people as possible … so it’s no surprise to me how successful it was. This city has a special sauce to pull those things together, to pull these types of events together, and Mel is a big advocate of that secret sauce.”•