Articles

IUPUI, Pacers negotiating deal

The IUPUI men’s basketball team appears headed across town to play home games at Conseco Fieldhouse. Officials for Pacers Sports & Entertainment said they would let IUPUI make any announcement.

University officials said an…

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Wet spring, slow economy slice into area golf business

On a typical Saturday at Smock Golf Course on the city’s south side, visitors are treated to a symphony of thwacks, pings
and the occasional plunk. In good or bad economic times, it seems, people in Indiana and across the country have always played
golf. But these days, the sound of that symphony has waned. Nationwide, the number of rounds of golf played through the first
half of this year is down 2 percent from last year. In Central Indiana, the situation is worse.

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NCAA mum on date to reopen fire-damaged Hall of Champions

Almost a full year after a fire in a single exhibit closed the NCAA Hall of Champions, the wait for the college sports
museum’s reopening is becoming as prolonged and agonizing as sitting through a college football game during
a freezing November rain. The NCAA is apparently in no hurry to relieve the suspense.

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NOTIONS: Got gold? Share the wealth with your Jason Lezak

Like hundreds of millions of other people around the world, I’ve been watching the Olympics on TV. Like most Americans among those viewers (especially NBC executives), I was pulling for swimmer Michael Phelps to win eight gold medals and surpass the record seven set by Mark Spitz in 1972. As everyone not buried under a rock knows by now, Phelps succeeded in his quest, but only by the narrowest of margins and only with considerable help from his teammates. Thus,…

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Firm helps area high schools sell themselves

Continental Enterprises, an intellectual property consulting firm, launched a service this summer to help area high schools register their logos, names and mascots as trademarks and establish licensing programs, assuring that schools will get a cut of all merchandise sales bearing their mark. This month, North Central High School, one of the state’s largest, signed with Continental, and six to eight more schools are expected to follow suit within 60 days.

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SPORTS: Let the ‘greatest athlete ever’ debate begin

Back from vacation with thoughts of this, that and the other: Even as my bride and I traveled through the magnificent scenery of Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, our nightly ritual was the same as that of millions of other Americans: making sure we were in front of the television to watch the Olympics. And yes, especially, Michael Phelps. Some have rushed to proclaim him the greatest Olympian of all time and, certainly, the argument can be made if you look…

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Harrison can catch, but won’t pitch

Marvin Harrison is a football superstar, but he sure isn’t a commercial superstar. Harrison had a deal with Degree antiperspirant in the late 1990s and another with the Got Milk campaign following the…

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Subway jilts Tony Stewart

NASCAR driver Tony Stewart is having a pretty bad week. During the same week Stewart was docked 150 points for his team’s efforts to mask his car’s true horsepower at a recent Nationwide…

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Indians’ prospect featured in SI

Indianapolis Indians outfielder Andrew McCutchen is included in a baseball prospects feature in this week’s Sports Illustrated. The print version includes a photo of him shot by team photographer Bill Gentry.

SI…

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Crean chasing Hoeppner’s record

Indiana University basketball coach Tom Crean hasn’t even coached his first game for the Hoosiers, and he’s already breaking records. Yesterday, Crean signed the richest coaching contract in IU history, a 10-year $23.6…

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Will JMV drive over to The Fan?

A couple things became clear from reader feedback I’ve been getting about a story I wrote regarding dueling sports/talk radio stations for this week’s print edition of the Indianapolis Business Journal. First, fans of WNDE-AM 1260 are much more…

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Colts fans let Lucas hear it

Lucas Oil Products Inc., and its owner Forrest Lucas, are taking a beating from IBJ readers after his request that Indianapolis Colts fans and local media not call the team’s new stadium “The Luke.” Lucas…

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Would JMV drive over to The Fan?

Two things are clear from reader feedback I’ve been getting this week about two stories I wrote for this week’s print edition of the Indianapolis Business Journal. First, fans of WNDE-AM 1260 are much more vocal than those of WFNI-AM…

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Indians get attention from ESPN

It just keeps getting better for the Indianapolis Indians this season. With attendance already on its way to eclipsing last season’s total of 586,785, the Tribe is getting a boost from two special…

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Colts creativity rings cash register

The Indianapolis Colts sell sponsorships like Peyton Manning throws touchdown passes. A lot of the credit goes to the team’s former sales and marketing boss Ray Compton, who sold everything imaginable…

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IUPUI faces tough decisions over aging sports facilities

From 1979 to 1982, IUPUI inherited three world-class athletic facilities that have since hosted Olympic trials and world-record performances by top-flight amateur and professional athletes. But that inheritance has turned into a financial albatross around the university’s neck. It’s grappling with how to pay for their upkeep and the improvements necessary to keep the facilities–and the city–in the hunt for high-profile sporting events.

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SPORTS: Our new playground is much more than a stadium

Now, I feel like the unlucky one. For the past two years, I’ve been privileged to be part of monthly media tours of Lucas Oil Stadium. I was there as the concrete bowl began to take shape, and as those steel trusses that would frame the retractable roof were put into place. I was there as the brick exterior began to climb, and when the concourses were little more than freshly poured concrete and empty spaces. I was there when…

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Lucas says please don’t call stadium ‘The Luke’

Officials for Lucas Oil Products Inc. are imploring fans and media not to refer to the team’s new stadium as The Luke,
a nickname that has cropped up on sports talk radio shows and been repeated in print and on TV. The nickname
seems to be gaining momentum, and that doesn’t sit well with Lucas brass already playing defense against
New Jersey-based Lukoil Co. California based-Lucas Oil signed a 20-year, $121.5 million naming-rights deal
for the Colts’ new stadium.

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SPORTS: Our new playground is much more than a stadium

Now, I feel like the unlucky one. For the past two years, I’ve been privileged to be part of monthly media tours of Lucas Oil Stadium. I was there as the concrete bowl began to take shape, and as those steel trusses that would frame the retractable roof were put into place. I was there as the brick exterior began to climb, and when the concourses were little more than freshly poured concrete and empty spaces. I was there when…

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