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Indians reverse attendance slide: 10-percent increase could lead to seven-figure profit

The Indianapolis Indians this year scored the second-highest-percentage attendance increase in the 14-team International League. The spike could push the team’s profit over $1 million. The AAA farm team for Major League Baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates scored a 10-percent increase in attendance. The Indians drew 8,383 per game, up from 7,608 in 2006. While attendance for all minor-league baseball teams was up 2.2 percent, the Indians’ ability to beat that trend in a crowded sports market is a testament to the…

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SPORTS: Feel-good sports stories are out there-just look

No question about it, the feel-good that sport can create has taken a beating this summer. There was Barry Bonds breaking the Major League homerun record under the strong suspicion of steroid use, NFL star Michael Vick’s guilty plea on federal dogfighting charges, the betting scandal involving NBA referee Tim Donaghy, and the revelation of match-fixing in professional tennis. Just to name a few. It could really get you down if you let it. Yet, I’ve written this before-sport provides…

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SURF THIS: Selling Bonds online-the baseball kind, anyway

Would you sell a piece of history? Let’s just say, for the purposes of this discussion, that you were in possession of a piece of history with a generally healthy market value-an 1884 Carson City $20 gold coin, for example. written notes from the Gettysburg Address. Or, say, the baseball that Barry Bonds hit to break Hank Aaron’s homerun record. Would you sell it? I wondered about this recently when I read that Matt Murphy, the fan who caught the…

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SPORTS: Lynch isn’t Hep, but he’s a coach you can root for

I recall being on the football field at Ball State University in November of 1996, moments after the Cardinals had clinched the Mid-American Conference championship. The head coach, Bill Lynch, was exceedingly thrilled, as you might expect. But he also was exceedingly humble, deflecting the credit and making sure the spotlight was focused not on him, but on his players. Fast forward to 1999, when Ball State was in the throes of a losing streak that was to reach 21…

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Big Ten battles for TV sports bonanza

The new Big Ten Network and some of the nation’s largest cable television systems are fighting over how consumers will be charged for the network’s programming. Hundreds of sporting events could be blacked out in local markets, including scores of Indiana and Purdue university football and basketball games, if the two sides don’t reach an agreement.

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SPORTS: Killing animals for sport isn’t right-or uncommon

On an August afternoon in 1992, while covering the Olympic Games in Barcelona for the local daily, several of us decided we needed to experience a slice of authentic Spanish culture. So we journeyed to a bullfight. I could offer a lengthy narrative, but I’ll provide the abridged version. The bulls are lanced several times by men on horseback. The subsequent loss of blood weakens the animals … slowly and agonizingly. Then the matador arrives with a sword and completes…

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New ventures expanding school sports coverage: Players large and small converge on growing niche

High school sports coverage, once found only in the back pages of local newspapers’ sports sections, is now spawning new Internet and print businesses. The players involved range from large public companies and professional sports franchises to small entrepreneurs. The effort to score with high school sports coverage appears to be driven by a growing number of advertisers interested in the diverse audience attracted to scholastic events. In recent months, High School Sports The Magazine debuted in central Indiana, Emmis…

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IN THIS ISSUE:

I N T H I S I S S U E FOCUS:Insurance&BenefitsQuarterly19-24 Employerslooktohealthsavingsaccountsforpremiumrelief19 OneAmericaingoodpositiontogrowthroughacquisition19 NOTSTRICTLYBUSINESS45-47 15 A&EbyLouHarry:FringecharacterspopulateaFringeFilmhighlight45 Dining:FritesatBruggeBrasserie45 FunnyBusinessbyMikeRedmond:TheWorldofTomorrowhovers,preparestoland46 SportsbyBillBenner:Plentytochewonforsportsfansofeverystripe47 PERIMETER15-18 HendricksCounty:Brownsburgluresdrag-racingfirms15 45 BehindtheNews:Andrews4OPINION & EDITORIAL HowmortgagemeltdownsankOakStreet,Commentary:ChrisKatterjohn10othersIBJ’sEnterpriseAwardhits25 EconomicAnalysis:Barkey28AEditorial10 PartingthoughtsonIndiana’sstrengths,Dunnexitshowsboarddoingjobweaknesses EyeonthePie:Marcus11ClassifiedsandInternetDirectory34-35LifegoesondespitepropertytaxesPeople18Viewpoint:DeborahJ.Daniels11ReturnonTechnology:Altom32Helpingex-offendershelpsallofusSavingprinterpaperdoesn’tsavemuchmoneyRECORDS SmallBusinessProfile40Calendar33FundRaising41It’sadog’slifeConventions33InRecognition41 LISTS LargestIndianapolis-AreaRetirementSTOCKS Communities26Investing:Hauke28LargestIndianapolis-AreaAssisted-LivingDominoeffectworsenedwoesinsubprimeFacilities37market ProxyCorner:IrwinFinancialCorp.31 COMPANY INDEX This index does not include companies mentioned in letters to the editor, lists, charts and records. The page numbers listed refer to the pages where articles begin. 3S Karting Supply ………………17 Conseco Inc……………………….30 Interactive Intelligence Inc……10 Precedent Commercial 96th Street Steakburgers……….1 Crowe Chizek…

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Colts build reputation for mastering salary cap

The Indianapolis Colts lost a slew of popular players in the off-season who were key to the team’s Super Bowl run. The defections–though
unusual for a championship team–were business as usual for a franchise that has gained a reputation around the league for
its bold personnel moves.

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SPORTS: Plenty to chew on for sports fans of every stripe

You leave town for a little vacation, but that doesn’t mean the world of sports is going to stop spitting out news. Therefore, thoughts about this, that and the other while I was away: News item: Barry Bonds breaks Henry Aaron’s home run record. Thought: Yawn. I ceased to care long ago. Major League Baseball has gotten what it deserved for ignoring the steroid issue for so long. News item: Tiger Woods wins his fourth PGA Championship, his second in…

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An update on three women-owned startups: Innovative ideas lead to business expansion

Invoke In addition to the yoga and pilates classes offered at Invoke, owner Amy Peddycord has added clothing from Lululemon, a popular Canadian apparel brand. She also has established a relationship with Santa Monica, Calif.-based Yoga Works, which has 14 studios throughout California and New York. Yoga Works will lead a teacher training program at Invoke in 2008. Peddycord says hiring an office manager in 2006 was the best thing she’s done. “Nicole [Schoville] quickly grew into the role and…

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SPORTS: Star athletes say the craziest things (or do they?)

Ah, another day, and another kick in the teeth for the Indiana Pacers. Back to the oral surgeon. The kind word for the Pacers’ Jermaine O’Neal would be disingenuous. Either that, or it’s a gaggle of reporters whom O’Neal wants us to believe either fictionalized or took several quotes “out of context”-don’t you love that fallback phrase?-last weekend in Los Angeles, where O’Neal said (or didn’t say) he wanted to be traded to the Lakers and was critical of Pacers’…

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PROFILE THERESIA WHITFIELD: Changing direction after life-altering crisis Former CNN producer follows path to healing, new career after overcoming post-traumatic stress

Whitfield, owner of Indianapolis-based Fletcher Communications Inc., was a freelance television news producer working for CNN, Reuters News and the Christian Broadcasting Network’s news division in Washington, D.C., when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. Four years later, Whitfield crashed emotionally and was hospitalized suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. The daughter of a retired Army officer, Whitfield, 39, had moved many times as a child before settling in Columbia, S.C. She graduated from high school in 1986, but…

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Fantasy football leagues concern employers

The kickoff of the National Football League season this month has many central Indiana employers fearful that fantasy will
encroach on reality. The fretfulness revolves around the start of the fantasy football season, where fans draft real players
onto make-believe teams and track their individual performances via organized Web sites.

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Fieldhouse must fend off Louisville arena rival

Although the opening of a 22,000-seat arena in Louisville is still three years away, officials here are already bracing for
a raid on Indianapolis and Conseco Fieldhouse events. Several Indianapolis interests will be watching Aug. 20 as the Louisville
Arena Authority unveils designs for the arena along the Ohio River.

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SPORTS: There’s still time to savor a championship season

The Indianapolis Colts are back at it, and with their arrival in Terre Haute (which is French for “terribly hot”) comes the first round of predictions. Will they or won’t they back up their Super Bowl championship? Hey, we’ll all find out in the dead of winter, not the heat of summer … how’s that for not being either bold or profound? But words in the first week of August are just so much blah, blah, blah. So, too, as…

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BEHIND THE NEWS: Tightening credit markets cast shadow over megadeals

Almost overnight, the nation’s lending climate has tightened dramatically, and the timing couldn’t be worse for two Indianapolis companies. A pair of private equity firms are trying to line up billions of dollars in debt financing to complete their $5.6 billion purchase of locally based Allison Transmission from General Motors Corp. Meanwhile, locally based Finish Line Inc. plans to rely on debt to pay nearly the entire cost of its $1.5 billion acquisition of Tennessee-based Genesco Inc. Those deals still…

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One motorcycle race gained, thousands of seats lost: Speedway officials think revenue from MotoGP race will make up for Indy 500 and Brickyard 400 losses

The changes to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course to accommodate motorcycle racing means the track’s operators will forfeit around $500,000 annually in ticket revenue for the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400. Due to modifications just south of pit road and directly north of the oval’s first turn, several thousand seats on the inside of the first turn will be removed after this year’s Brickyard 400. Work to prepare the track for next year’s MotoGP motorcycle race-which includes laying 13,300…

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SPORTS: Awaiting a tainted ‘greatest’ moment in sports

Do the words “integrity” and “sports” belong in the same sentence? Worse, does anyone care? By the time you read this, Barry Bonds, a Giant in uniform but hardly a giant of a man, may have become baseball’s alltime home-run king. His inexorable pursuit of Henry Aaron’s magical mark of 755 has been well-documented. So, too, has been the overwhelming evidence implicating Bonds as a user of steroids. Thus, what should be one of baseball’s greatest moments is instead one…

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VIEWPOINT: Indy a home run for College World Series

As I sat last month enjoying my first College World Series week in Omaha, Neb., an evening game between the North Carolina Tarheels and the Rice Owls, it became clear to me that this nationally u n d e r a p p r e c i a t e d event would be perfect for Indianapolis. Or better said; Indianapolis would be perfect for the College World Series. Now, before CWS purists begin to chant “57 years!” “57 years!,”…

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