Q&A: CIB’s Andy Mallon talks about Taylor Swift, Pan Am Plaza construction and more

For five years, Andy Mallon has led the Capital Improvement Board of Marion County as executive director. During that time, he’s helped navigate the entity, which operates Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indiana Convention Center, through a pandemic and related budget cuts as well as countless major events.

Now, Mallon is overseeing the expansion of the Indiana Convention Center along Capitol Avenue, as well as the city of Indianapolis’ 37-story Signia by Hilton project.

Mallon spoke with IBJ about what it’s been like to oversee the board at a time when so much is going on and what’s coming down the pike.

Let’s start off with the elephant in the room. How excited are you for Taylor Swift to be in Indianapolis?

I am incredibly excited, and it’s been a long time coming.

We’re going to be the best host city that she’s had. We’re really pulling out all the stops for all of our visitors and for Taylor.

It’s going to be a great weekend of activations and an amazing time downtown. We do these amazing city-wide events better than anyone in the country, and we’re going show the world, once again, why Indy is the best host city in the world.

Has there been anything different about preparing for this series of shows compared with other shows at Lucas Oil Stadium this year or in the recent past?

Obviously, this is a unique event; it’s not your regular concert. It is three nights—we did do two nights of Morgan Wallen, so that makes this a welcome trend—but just the sheer volume of people that come to a host city where Taylor Swift is playing, just to be part of the festival-like atmosphere and a part of the show is like a few other artists.

We’ve prepared for this show like we prepare for a large sporting event or a large convention, where we roll out the red carpet and make sure we’ve dotted all the Is and crossed all the Ts, from a public safety and crowd management perspective.

What should people expect to see from those working in the industry if they’re coming downtown, either for the show or to take in the atmosphere?

You will see Indy at its best when it comes to hospitality, volunteers and staff members looking out for the public and each other, similar to what you saw for the College Football Playoff, the All-Star Game, USA Swimming and even going as far back as the Super Bowl.

That’s the secret to Indianapolis. Success is the people that care about and want to participate in these huge marquee events, even if they don’t have a ticket to get inside.

Will you be able to make it to any of her shows?

I’ll be working. I do like Taylor Swift’s music, mostly because I can’t get away from it with my 17-year-old daughter, but I’ll be working and hosting folks in our suite, hosting our clients and partners.

You mentioned Morgan Wallen, but there have been several shows at Lucas Oil Stadium this year—and certainly more than any other year since the pandemic. Why the uptick?

It’s been a mutual focus between our stadium-booking folks and the concert marketers, who know Indianapolis as one of the best touring markets in the country and are wanting to fill stadiums.

We’ve turned around and proven over and over again that we can fill the stadium and put on an amazing show for the amazing artists that want to sell tickets and perform for the people of central Indiana and the region.

Should we expect to see the same strategy continue over the next year or so?

Yes, you will see the same focus on, from our perspective, booking big shows and continuing to put our best foot forward and making sure these shows get sold out and the entertainers have an amazing time when they’re here.

I think what you’ll also see is the success of Indianapolis as a market full of incredible venues from Lucas Oil Stadium to Gainbridge Fieldhouse to Ruoff [Music Center] and White River State Park, artists can perform and, frankly, sell out and make a lot of money.

One of the other events that is on the books for next year, in February, is World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.’s Royal Rumble, one of the biggest professional wrestling events in the world. What’s it like to work with the Indiana Sports Corp. and WWE to put that together?

Our foot is fully on the gas, and we are out there trying to bring the top entertainment acts to Indianapolis in our biggest venues.

The Sports Corp. is a terrific partner, and we worked with them to book WWE and enter into a one-of-a-kind agreement for multiple shows with the WWE. We love working with them and it’s a tried and true, decades-old partnership that we have with the Sports Corp., and it’s one of the reasons Indianapolis is the best city for hosting in the country.

There have been some hiccups this year with Lucas Oil Stadium’s roof, as it was set to be open for at least two Colts games only to have that decision scrubbed late due to equipment issues. How is the Capital Improvement Board working through that, and are you confident that, moving forward, the roof will be a usable feature for the stadium?

We’re working through it deliberately and thoroughly and consistently. Obviously, the roof is a very important aspect of Lucas Oil Stadium. We will get it up and running and fully functional as soon as we possibly can.

It is one of the most complicated pieces of equipment, I would say, in the state of Indiana, [given] just how large and how heavy it is. So, we’ve had some recent challenges. The good news is that the communication system that is causing our problems … right now is going to be fully replaced in January. So, we expect zero problems once that new system is in place, if not before.

There are also several million dollars in capital investments being made next year in CIB properties, including a few for the Indiana Convention Center. What should people expect?

Starting next year, there will be digital signage outside of each of the meeting rooms and exhibit halls, along with electronic locks that will be installed on the doors. It will give people a better idea of what’s happening during each event we host and help them more easily navigate where they are trying to go. We’re also doing some HVAC work.

And, of course, there’s the $710 million hotel and convention center expansion project across Capitol Avenue. How are things coming along with that project?

Really, that’s what’s taking up most of my energy these days—it’s all being put into our construction projects.

We are about 20% complete and gaining steam. … We’ve got a few significant contracts left to sign before we’re no longer designing and negotiating and instead are actually just building. We hope to have all of those things wrapped up by the end of the year or the beginning of next year.

We’ll have tremendous progress with going vertical fairly quickly over the next 12 months, getting higher and higher every month. Then we’ll chase the concrete and steel work with the glass exterior up the building. It’s going to be really cool.

How is booking going for the ballroom in the convention center and meeting space in the hotel?

So, Hilton has hired its director of sales for the Signia, and he’s hired his first seller who starts in a few weeks. They’re going to begin selling in earnest all of our bookings, all of the annual citywide shows that historically come to Indianapolis. We want to make sure that they get a chance to book in the new hotel starting in 2027.

So, those are all teed up and ready to go. Those citywide events will be the priority to get them on the books and get their contracts finalized.

You are in your fifth year now at the helm of the CIB. How would you describe your time in the role thus far?

Given the fact that we had to navigate a global pandemic, the first of its kind—at least in the last 100 years—it’s been challenging, but it’s been completely rewarding. I’m so proud of our team and what we’ve been able to do together. I couldn’t be happier.

Last week, Indianapolis International Airport announced it has secured a nonstop route to Dublin, Ireland, reestablishing a route to Europe for the first time since the pandemic. How important is it for the city’s tourism industry and the activity at the convention center to have that back?

It’s incredible, because there are tons of shows that draw from all over the world and meet in the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium. So to have that ease of access to and from Europe is a huge benefit to us.

A lot of cities have been making sizable investments in their convention and sports facilities in recent years. Cincinnati is expanding its convention center, Dallas is spending $3.7 billion to expand its own and we’ve seen Nashville make investments in both its convention facilities and a new stadium for the Titans. When you look around, how do you evaluate where Indy stands in terms of the facilities at its disposal and what the city is doing to maintain or stay ahead of the curve?

We’re the best event city in the country, and I’m not kidding about that. The projects you mentioned are really following our lead.

Cincinnati’s convention center is smaller than ours and they’re trying to compete with us. Nashville, Cleveland, even Chicago, are looking at putting roofs on their football stadiums to compete with us.

In this business, that sort of Midwest humility doesn’t do you much good because the reality is that Hoosier hospitality and the infrastructure that’s been built in downtown Indianapolis over the last 50 years is second to nowhere else in the country.

When you look at the next 12 months for the CIB’s facilities, what are some of the things that you’re most looking forward to?

I think I’m most looking forward to WWE at Lucas Oil, then obviously seeing more of our annual [conventions] come back to the convention center and continue hopefully to set records. Convention after convention have continued to set records this year, and hopefully we’ll see that continue next year.

Then there’s Billy Joel and Sting, which is going to be an amazing concert next spring. And also the NCAA Midwest Regional for men’s basketball. That’s always an amazing event, and it’ll be my first non-pandemic regional. Then we’ll be preparing for the Final Four in 2026, with improvements along Georgia Street. I’m really looking forward to that and making it a sort of new plaza event space for our events.•