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Local firm signs landmark sports events deals: Providing five-star services seen as key to growth

A local company that sells ticket and event packages associated with major sporting events has secured groundbreaking deals with the Ryder Cup and Churchill Downs Inc. Indianapolis-based Sport Events Ltd. will be one of the first two companies to sign an official deal with Churchill Downs to sell ticket and hospitality packages to the Kentucky Derby, run this year May 3. Previously, the fabled racetrack had chosen to run everything-including corporate hospitality-in-house. “In many cases, these properties have realized that…

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Have Colts already outgrown new stadium?: Team has long waiting lists for suites, season tickets

Escalating demand for corporate entertainment space during Indianapolis Colts home games has team owner Jim Irsay wondering whether Lucas Oil Stadium should have been built with more luxury suites. “Quite frankly, I wish we built 30 or 40 more suites,” Irsay told IBJ during a recent interview. There’s good reason to think the Colts have outgrown the stadium-even though it’s still four months from completion. The Colts long ago sold all 142 suites for the venue, and have a waiting…

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Sampson gets job, IU loses players

Former Indiana University basketball coach Kelvin Sampson today accepted a job offer to be an assistant under Scott Skiles with the Milwaukee Bucks, sources with knowledge of the deal said. Sampson only took the job after discussing a job offer…

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BTN, Comcast deal near

Sources close to Comcast Cable and the Big Ten Network said an agreement to put the yearling network on Comcast’s expanded basic in 94 percent of Big Ten country is imminent. While both sides officially say there is nothing new…

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USATF speeds up CEO search

Its athletes may be fast, but when it comes to finding and hiring a new CEO, Indianapolis-based USA Track & Field is anything but speedy. Maybe that’s because the organization has only had…

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Speedway offers combo event ticket

Race fans can now buy one ticket to see the Indianapolis 500, Brickyard 400 and inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP motorcycle race.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time is offering a general…

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IU nets $21 million from Adidas deal

Indiana University today signed an eight-year deal with Adidas that will net the school’s athletic department $21 million in cash and products over the course of the agreement.

Portland, Ore.-based Adidas will supply footwear…

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Polian looks for wrestlers, pitchers

While a lot of National Football League presidents and general managers are looking closely at college prospects’ football pedigree, Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian takes his background check a step further. Sure, Polian wants to know…

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TV ratings up for Sunday’s IRL race

The good news for the Indy Racing League keeps rolling in. On the heels of a significant attendance increase at the April 27 race at Kansas Speedway over last year’s event, series officials are now reporting that television ratings also…

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Daylight-saving time a hit for Tribe

The Indianapolis Indians are just 321 fans short of drawing 7 million fans to Victory Field, which opened mid-summer 1996.

The team plans to celebrate the milestone tonight when the Tribe plays the Columbus Clippers….

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Dome demolition details announced

The signs of the 25-year-old RCA Dome are coming down next week. The building which helped lure the Indianapolis Colts here from Baltimore will follow. 

The Indiana Stadium and Convention Building Authority this afternoon announced detailed plans for demolishing the RCA Dome…

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Herrod scores for Special Olympics

Jeff Herrod said all it took was a head-first dive into freezing cold water to wake him up to the importance of the Special Olympics here in Indiana. 

The Former Indianapolis Colts linebacker will host a silent auction…

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Stadium walkway attracts events

Details of a crucial aspect of the Lucas Oil Stadium-Convention Center project could be revealed today as city and stadium construction officials meet to discuss the project.

The construction timeline on the $10 million connector…

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Commentary: Do we need a disaster to wake us up?

About 20,000 historic properties were damaged in the storm, and Gay, executive director of Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, has led the charge to save them. “We never felt like throwing up our hands,” Gay said. “We don’t do that.” The Preservation Resource Center contacted owners of the nearly 4,000 historic properties that were condemned after the hurricane. About 600 of them have been spared to date. The PRC also has been helping review the planned demolition of buildings…

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Irsay sees Polian son as heir apparent; other teams come calling

Beyond his last name, little is known here about Indianapolis Colts Vice President of Football Operations Chris Polian–even
though it’s likely he represents the future of the franchise. In National Football League circles, Polian’s stock has skyrocketed
as league owners have realized there’s more to the 36-year-old than his famous last name.

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Patrick victory scores for series, sponsors: Historic triumph earns more attention than unification

Almost everyone involved with the Indy Racing League expected a firestorm of publicity after Danica Patrick won her first open-wheel race. But few predicted just how hot a commodity the 26-year-old driving diva would become following her April 19 win in Japan. “It’s not like we got caught unprepared. We had a plan in place for over a year,” said Terry Angstadt, president of IRL’s commercial division. The victory blueprint included a list of contacts to be made, interviews to…

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SPORTS: How big was Patrick’s win? Let the debate begin

Like most of the rest of the sporting world and to some extent beyond, I had awakened on that Sunday morning to the delightful news that, overnight in faraway Japan, Patrick had broken through to secure her first Indy Racing League victory in 50 tries. She now is something more than a pretty face and, to some, a sexual object who also just happened to drive race cars. She is a champion. Now this isn’t, as one gearhead suggested, along…

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Kansas IRL race near sellout

The effect of Danica Patrick’s victory is being felt from Japan to Kansas.

A measurable surge in ticket demand for today’s Indy Racing League’s race near Kansas City, Kansas pushed the event near its…

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Bucks set to hire Sampson?

Scott Skiles is apparently a big fan of Indiana University’s former basketball coach Kelvin Sampson.

Sources close to both said Skiles, who has a house in Bloomington where Sampson used to work, is urging the…

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Star’s Montieth ‘hit dead end’

Indianapolis Star sports reporter Mark Montieth has covered his last Indiana Pacers game for the paper he dreamed about working for since he was a young child.

Effective at the end of today, Montieth,…

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