Planned practice center aims to help Fever keep up with WNBA competitors

Kelly Krauskopf isn’t hiding her excitement about the Indiana Fever’s planned training facility projected to open in 2027 on the former Marion County Jail I property, just a stone’s throw from Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

For the longtime women’s basketball executive, who rejoined the Fever as president this offseason after six years with the Pacers, it’s a big deal—and a long time coming.

Already, six of the WNBA’s 13 teams have opened or announced plans for their own dedicated practice facilities, a collective investment of more than $240 million by the teams’ owners. Fever parent Pacers Sports & Entertainment, which is majority-owned by Herb Simon and his family, plans to invest $78 million in the Fever facility.

“The biggest thing that I’ve known and lived for the past 25 years, since I was hired, is that we’ve always had a dedicated space [at the fieldhouse] for our team,” Krauskopf said. “This is just another level of commitment by Herb Simon and our ownership group to show how important and how invested they are in the growth of women’s basketball.”

While the team will continue to use its current practice court and locker facilities at the fieldhouse (renovated in 2020) on game days, the three-story Indiana Fever Sports Performance Center will be team headquarters, with offices for team personnel, training areas, basketball courts and various player amenities, including a hair and nail salon, child care space and content-production areas. The building will also have a team store.

Krauskopf said facilities like the one PS&E plans to build matter to players.

“This is probably number one—or equal with—who you play with,” Krauskopf said. “Players want to win, and they want to play with great players, but when you walk into [a team’s] home, and you see this is how you’re going to live every season … it makes a difference. And it’s a significant way to elevate your franchise.”

The Fever’s dedicated facility is expected to be the league’s largest. It will also be the only one within walking distance of the team’s arena. Most are being built in suburban areas, including the Las Vegas Aces’ facility in Henderson, about 10 miles south of the team’s game-day venue, and the Chicago Sky’s planned facility in Bedford Park, Illinois, 11 miles west of its downtown arena.

In August 2023, the Aces became the first to open a separate practice facility, which has set the tone for the league. The facility features amenities also planned for the Fever’s space, including weight rooms, training areas, cryotherapy spaces and a kitchen, as well as a player lounge, film room and family spaces.

Allison Barber, who left her role as Fever president in October to launch a female-focused athletic enterprise known as Marvella, said she’s pleased with PS&E’s decision to develop a facility for the team. She said she was not involved in conversations about the facility during her time with the company.

“I’m thrilled for the Fever and for the additional inspiration toward what’s happening around the whole [discussion] of girls and women in sports,” she said. “It’s exciting, but I wasn’t surprised, because I think the Simons have always given everything they can to give the Fever the best chance possible of being an excellent franchise.”

Better design

Barber is helping Marvella establish a $98 million campus focused on female athletes, which will break ground this spring. The sprawling, 120-acre development at Fair Oaks Farms just off of Interstate 65, on the eastern edge of Newton County, will feature courts and turf fields for competition, as well as training facilities, educational programming, and physical and mental health support.

Marvella is also expected to offer an expansive media center and a museum focused on Indiana’s role in the passage of Title IX, the 1972 federal law that bolstered funding for women’s sports.

Barber said she sees many parallels between what’s going on with Marvella and the Fever’s efforts and is eager to look for ways to collaborate.

She also noted that design standards for women-focused spaces are different from what they might be for men, down to the width of a door frame, height of a step or types of hangers used in locker rooms—all factors that will be considered in the design of both the Fever and Marvella facilities.

“It’s not about ‘shrink it and pink it,’ as people say—it’s about design,” Barber said. “What women want in locker rooms and … design features are different than what men want. This is the [shift in] mindset we’re starting to see across all of the WNBA teams and their design, and you’re going to see this in Marvella.

“We have the knowledge, the research and the momentum around this to say, ‘Wait a minute. Now we can stop and think about this,’ because there are enough women and girls playing sports that we can actually learn what design features work the best.”

The Fever facility is set to open a decade after the Pacers moved into their own dedicated practice facility in 2017 at the $50 million Ascension St. Vincent Center on Delaware Street, across from the fieldhouse.

About 20 of the NBA’s 30 teams have dedicated practice and training facilities, with others—like the Cleveland Cavaliers and Charlotte Hornets—constructing buildings, as well.

Many collegiate programs have also opened dedicated practice facilities, including for women’s basketball.

“Why wouldn’t you want your women’s team to have the best resources, just like the guys do” at the Ascension St. Vincent Center? Krauskopf asked. “I hope someday we’re at a point where this is the norm and it isn’t unusual. It’s not unusual at the college level. I think that’s my point—it’s happening. It’s [just] new in terms of the psyche of the American public in, where does a female athlete fit into the needs of what every other athlete should have?”

‘Investment in the product’

Larry DeGaris, a sports business expert and Northwestern University professor of sports marketing, said he’s not surprised by the plans for a Fever facility given the upswing in the WNBA’s popularity.

“It’s an indication that women’s sports are being as taken as seriously as men’s sports in that there’s a lot of buzz. But at some point, fans are going to expect championships,” said DeGaris, previously a professor at the University of Indianapolis. “This is an investment in the product.”

The past two seasons, the Fever have had the first pick in the draft, selecting Aliyah Boston in 2023 and Caitlin Clark in 2024. The moves paid off almost immediately, bringing more eyes to not only the Fever but also the whole league—largely driven by the popularity of Clark, who drew huge crowds in person and on TV during her final year at the University of Iowa.

The Fever made their first playoff appearance in eight years last season, losing in the first round to the Connecticut Sun. The team last reached the WNBA Finals in 2015 and won a championship in 2012.

This offseason, the team made changes to its front-office staff following Barber’s departure. Alongside Krauskopf, the Fever brought in Amber Cox to serve as general manager, while Lin Dunn moved to an advisory position. The team also hired former Fever player Stephanie White—a Hoosier native who was also a star at Purdue University—as head coach, replacing Christie Sides.

In the first week of free agency, the team has also made substantial changes to its roster, signing six-time WNBA All-Star DeWanna Bonner and Natasha Howard. The team also acquired Sophie Cunningham from the Phoenix Mercury as part of a three-team trade and re-signed Kelsey Mitchell.

While the Fever’s practice facility won’t open for more than two years, team executives and sports business experts expect it to help bolster player morale and recruit high-caliber players. And Krauskopf said that it will play a big role in the long-term outlook for the franchise.

“This is how we make sure you have everything possible to be great as you represent the city and the state,” she said. “And, yeah, it’s a tremendous recruiting opportunity and a way to show players around the league that this is what it could be like if you were to wear an Indiana Fever uniform.”•