Gen Con this year plans to use more than 750,000 square feet in the Indiana Convention Center, Lucas Oil Stadium and in the connector between the two facilities. It’s the most space ever booked for an Indianapolis convention.
In the last two weeks of the year, Visit Indy signed deals to bring 41 conventions to Indianapolis in the next five years. Those deals helped push the group close to a new annual record for advance bookings of hotel rooms.
The number of hotel rooms Visit Indy booked into future years took a tumble in 2016 to the lowest level since 2013. But local tourism and hotel officials aren’t overly concerned.
The short-term extension allows the city to keep one of its largest conventions, with an estimated economic impact of $70 million, for at least another year.
After initially seeking a five-year extension that would keep the massive gaming convention in Indianapolis through 2025, Gen Con officials have changed their request.
Visit Indy CEO Leonard Hoops told Capital Improvement Board members that standing pat is not an option when it comes to hospitality infrastructure, but a major expansion wouldn’t be needed in the near future.
The annual report of the city’s Capital Improvement Board shows the number of events at the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium—and the total attendance for those events—fell sharply from 2014 to 2015.
Gen Con is the biggest and highest-profile convention to use both the stadium and convention center since the 2011 expansion—and others are watching to see how it works.
Only 1 percent of the events booked over the last year at the Indiana Convention Center asked for gender-neutral bathrooms, but hospitality experts say it’s a big and growing issue.
The inaugural outing of Indy PopCon, in 2014, generated about 9,000 turnstile spins. Last year’s event had 24,000.
The annual gaming convention, considered the largest of its kind, attracted 61,423 individuals for 197,695 visits in August, marking its sixth straight year of growth.
The Performance Racing Industry Show has grown into one of the biggest international draws of any trade show or convention held in Indianapolis.
The Indianapolis gathering place is ready for its fifth addition, say the city’s top convention promoters.
The section of Georgia Street west of the fieldhouse was conceived as a way to create an eye-catching Super Bowl pedestrian zone in 2012. The challenge since has been to find a sustainable role for the venue.
Regulators have reached a settlement with Smart City Holdings LLC for blocking consumers' Wi-Fi signals at convention centers around the country, including in Indianapolis.
The Indiana Finance Authority is paying about $71 million to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to end an interest-rate swap as part of a bond sale to refinance debt for Lucas Oil Stadium. An additional $34.7 million is being paid for the Indiana Convention Center.
A message on the home page of www.visitindy.com says that all are welcome to visit the city, and a separate page highlights some of the businesses that support the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community.
The National Rifle Association’s annual convention was Indianapolis’ biggest convention last year, and local hospitality leaders expect it to be even bigger in future years.
One of the city’s best-known corporate meeting and convention planners, Meeting Services Unlimited Inc., is launching a division focused on smaller, high-end private parties.
The punch list is nearly complete on Lucas Oil Stadium and the expansion of the Indiana Convention Center, six and four years after their respective openings.
