WNBA picked Indy as All-Star host after last-minute conflict for another city

The WNBA’s decision to award its 2025 All-Star Game to Indianapolis came after a last-minute scheduling conflict forced the league to look elsewhere, leading to a six-week sprint culminating in Thursday’s formal announcement.

Pacers Sports & Entertainment, which oversees the league’s Indiana Fever, was already in discussions with WNBA officials about a future hosting opportunity sometime before the 2028 NCAA Division I Women’s Final Four, which is scheduled to take place in Indianapolis.

But in mid-June, WNBA senior league staff told the organization that the 2025 event was in flux, creating an opening for Indianapolis, which hosted the NBA All-Star Game in February and is seeing a boom in popularity for the Fever, led by the selection of No. 1 draft pick Caitlin Clark.

“Another city had been planning to host, but they had some conflicts in their schedule that came up late, so the WNBA reached out to us to ask whether we would be interested,” said Mel Raines, CEO of PS&E, said Thursday. “It all moved pretty quickly, and I do think the success of recently hosting the NBA All Star game, as well as the success of this Fever season and [the league’s] knowledge of what a great event city we are played into all of that.”

Raines did not say which city had previously been expected to host the event.

She said the event, scheduled for July 18-19, coincides with the Indiana Black Expo’s Summer Celebration. She said officials with the expo—which annually draws tens of thousands of people downtown—fully supported hosting both events at the same time, with the thinking they could play off one another and increase each other’s platforms.

Pacers Sports & Entertainment has already designated four co-chairs for the event and is working to fill out the host committee and staff. Raines said the group has also been in regular contact with the Capital Improvement Board, the Indiana Sports Corp., Visit Indy and Downtown Indy, as well as the administrations for Mayor Joe Hogsett and Gov. Eric Holcomb, all of which have thrown their support behind the effort.

She and other officials also attended this year’s All-Star Game in Phoenix, which drew 16,407 spectators, the most-attended WNBA All-Star Game since 2007. The contest was the most watched WNBA All-Star game in history, drawing 3.44 million viewers. The previous record was 1.44 million viewers in 2003.

Raines said PS&E initially had been considering negotiating with the WNBA to host the 2026 All-Star Game, which would have given the city more time to plan the event and roll out the red carpet. Indianapolis has never hosted the WNBA’s marquee midseason event previously despite being a member of the league since 2000.

But 2025, Raines said, works just as well. While the city won’t have nearly as much time to plan as it does for other events (the lead time for big events can range wildly, from two years to more than five), she expects the condensed timeframe will pay off. She pointed to the 2021 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament, which was held completely in central Indiana after only three months of planning, as proof the city can tackle the challenge.

“I think we’ve got such a good blueprint to pull the key partners together, so we’re not starting from scratch in any area,” she said. “It would be great to have a little bit more than a year, but at the same time, I am absolutely confident will pull off a great event. Sometimes, when you have more time, it leads to more meetings and more, frankly, time-wasting activities. Now we just get to roll up our sleeves and get going.”

Indianapolis hosted the NBA All-Star game in February, following a 39-year gap since the city’s last turn at hosting that event and a three-year delay caused by the pandemic. The festivities generated more than $400 million for the central Indiana economy over a five-day period, according to a study commissioned by the NBA.

The projected economic impact of the 2025 WNBA All-Star weekend is still being determined.

“We want to work with the league to enhance the official events however we can, and make them bigger and better,” Raines said. “Then, certainly, we’ll have a big group of community leaders to help push us to be sure we’re not leaving any stone unturned in terms of how we can maximize this opportunity for the city and state.”

The selection of Indianapolis comes as the Fever itself is having a major moment, as the team has been in the spotlight all season long, largely stemming from the immense interest jolted by Clark. The team has jumped from next to last to No. 1 in home attendance since last season and is playing before packed houses on the road.

The WNBA is still finalizing its hotel room block, but Raines said the rooms needed for the event are available. The WNBA All-Star Game typically has a smaller draw than does the NBA’s, bringing in about 15,000 to 20,000 people, but attention for the league is reaching new heights. PS&E is also planning to have a legacy project for the event, much like the city plans for most major sporting events it hosts.

“We’ve already been spending time behind the scenes engaging some of our normal partners and thinking about things like public art and legacy projects and ways we can make a bigger impact downtown,” she said. “I’m not concerned that we’ll pull it off. Sometimes in a short time frame, you can make magic happen.”