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A little more than a year ago, we got our first look at Eleven Park, a $1 billion mixed-use development slated to breathe new life into downtown’s southwest quadrant. The anchor for the project: a 20,000-seat stadium that would be home to the Indy Eleven, our United Soccer League team.
The development got underway with a groundbreaking ceremony last May, and despite the discovery of human remains buried when the site was historically used as a cemetery, everything seemed to be moving along.
Until, on a Thursday morning in late April, it all came publicly and awkwardly crashing down in a breathtaking blur of news that left most observers scratching their heads and asking a lot more questions than there were answers readily available.
The developer, who owns the Indy Eleven and has poured millions into growing soccer in central Indiana, got ahead of the story early, accusing city officials of reneging on a deal to build the stadium.
Later in the day, Mayor Joe Hogsett held a solo press conference to announce the city would be pursuing a bid for a Major League Soccer team—and looking at another site for the stadium near the recently decommissioned downtown heliport.
For their part, City-County Council members, who ultimately must approve the plan, appeared just as out of the loop as the rest of Indianapolis.
And so, armed with drips and drabs of information, the hive mind gathered on social media to ask all the questions: Do we actually have a chance at getting an MLS team? If we get one, do the Indy Eleven go away? If we don’t get one, do the Indy Eleven go away? Does this mean the Eleven Park development is toast?
As the debate unfolded, it became clear two conversations were taking place: one focused on money, political intrigue and power players and the other focused on what the team we have right now means to our city and its faithful soccer fans.
It’s a herculean task to grow a garden from just one seed, but that’s the story of the Indy Eleven, which had a fan base before the team existed.
Established in 2011, the Brickyard Battalion laid the grassroots foundation to bring professional soccer back to the Circle City. If you’ve ever been to a home match, you’ve seen the face-painted, screaming fan base at the west end of the stadium. They very much love their team, and they should be a central part of the conversation—if not leading it—about the future of soccer in Indianapolis.
I’m no real estate expert or diehard sports fan. I don’t know all the machinations that go into recruiting new businesses—including athletic teams—to our city. There obviously are elements that have to happen behind closed doors for deals to come together.
But the way all of this has unfolded feels sudden, secretive and un-Hoosier-like. Big personalities are seemingly siloed and unwilling to budge from their respective bargaining positions, leaving the public in the dark and worried that, if we don’t win big, we might lose it all.
Maybe it’s just that we belatedly finished the “Ted Lasso” series, but I think the folks in charge can do better than what we saw play out last month.
When it comes to the future of soccer in our city, I believe in Believe.•
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Chartier is a lifelong Indianapolis resident and owner of Mass Ave Public Relations. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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