Eleven Park

One of these days we'll know more about what the Indy Eleven have in mind for the proposed stadium. I thought it would be today, but delayed once again.

A bill has been submitted in the Indiana House of Representatives by District 37's Todd Huston, which you can read here:
HB 1273 and
Latest Fiscal Notes on it

So I was thinking again.  Given my ever increasing negative view about whether the proposed stadium gets approved, I thought I would look at something else about it.  Quite a few people have stated, and reiterated, that they think that Carroll Stadium should be rehabbed, or if that is not feasible, then demolished completely and a new stadium constructed in its location.  I've had issues with that, among them being where to play while the construction work is happening.  Suggestions included the Butler Bowl, Carmel High School, and Ben Davis High School.  However, only Ben Davis comes close to having enough capacity for the Indy Eleven, as BD Stadium seats 9,000 people (5,500 on the home side & 3,500 on the visitors side).  As a BD alum, I like the idea of having the team play at my high school, especially given that there could be an opportunity to have an event with Lauren Holiday (nee Cheney) depending on her schedule with FC Kansas City and the US Women's National Team.  I just don't see the team wanting to spend even more money to get a second stadium ready to temporarily accommodate the additional people for the games.  Paying twice to do the same thing just doesn't make good business sense. Running water and showers for the team would be nice and readily available, but it's also located out in the suburbs when the team has repeatedly said they prefer to be in downtown Indy.

So I give you Eleven Park at Victory Field:

• Downtown.  
• Running water.
• Concession stands.
• Merchandise stands.
• Can seat up to 14,230 when utilizing the lawn, which would be a good way to watch the game. If NYCFC can use Yankee Stadium temporarily, then why can't the Eleven use Victory Field temporarily?
• Scheduling might become an issue, but surely something could be evaluated.  An afternoon Indians/night Eleven doubleheader a couple times for some cross promotion if necessary.

Again, I'm just a fan who seems to have this stadium on my mind a lot, especially since I don't think Peter and Ersal can convince the public to help finance $87M no matter how it is spun.  I've seen too many comments from fans who actually want the stadium who don't want to pay for it.  I think if Ersal agrees to privately finance even half of it, this is a completely different conversation.  Peter was on WNDE last night and either Query or Schultz (I can't recall who said it) said, "through no fault of the Eleven" people are going to look at a very large, very expensive Lucas Oil Stadium and ask why the city needs another stadium.  When the argument that 20,000 people wouldn't fill a third of the stadium and some scheduling conflicts is the best response to that, it's hard to argue against their logic.  I think professional teams need facilities that specialize to their sport, but Indy has had a history of pro soccer teams that didn't make it and could barely fill Kuntz.  I understand the naysayers' arguments and am having a harder time disagreeing with them depending on my mood.

Supposedly, renderings and fly-through animations will be available next week (delayed from this week).  Maybe that will switch my mood again.