A plan unveiled in the Indiana Senate today would nix plans for a publicly-financed soccer stadium for the Indy Eleven minor league soccer team and replace it with a much less costly plan to expand and renovate Carroll Stadium. An amendment that Sen. Brandt Hershman plans to offer proposes $20 million in state funding to renovate the state-owned Carroll Stadium to expand its seating capacity from 12,000 to 18,000, which would be matched by a $5 million contribution from the Capital Improvement Board. Carroll Stadium would remain a multi-purpose facility under state control as part of the IUPUI campus.
This plan makes so much more sense for so many reasons. Carroll Stadium was built back in the early 80s as a track and field facility when the city hosted the Pan Am Games. Over the years, the stadium has been poorly-maintained just like the Natatorium next door, which was also built especially for the Pan Am Games. It's a good location with ample parking situated adjacent to White River State Park. I would suggest the state consider selling naming rights to the stadium rather than tapping existing state revenues to pay the improvements. If professional soccer is as popular as the Indy Eleven backers say it is, there shouldn't be any problem finding a name sponsor to pony up most of the money required for the renovations.
9 comments:
Bait and switched..,
What Constitutional protection or citizen / taxpayer assurance / guarantee, is Senator Hershman offering the people; in exchange for their lifeblood & talent used to fill the public treasury?
What serious or adult proposals, have Senator Hershmen et al proposed, to protect the grid from terrorists; including the coal plant attacking EPA? They're paying attention to real world stuff, right?1330
$20M will go a very long ways at a small outdoor stadium. Why doesn't anyone at the statehouse think Ozdemir should have some skin in building or renovating a stadium for his own damn team? And I'm not talking about that BS amendment that would force him to personally guarantee loans because everyone knows he can just declare bankruptcy and walk away if his one year old minor league team goes belly up. Make him front $5-10M or more of his own money to fund this. And don't let him sell naming rights and keep the money like lucas oil or the Pepsi coliseum shams.
I'm thrilled with the Senate proposal. It's not a "bait and switch," Tandem, because that implies Ersal Ozdemir would be in the end getting what he always wanted. He most certainly wants no part of this proposal. His pushing for a soccer venue was never about giving the team a better place to play, but using the team to have the taxpayers build a stadium he could use to make money.
I'm not even sure I want Ozdemir putting up money toward renovations, which he most certainly will not do. It's a public stadium. I don't want private parties claiming any sort of ownership to it. I want the public receiving revenue from its use and I want non-university teams, such as Indy Eleven, who use the facility to pay rent.
This is a much better idea. If Ersal wants to play there, he can cut the state a rent check for every game.
IUPUI can start a Football team, and the State won't have squandered the Public's money.
Ersal is always free to cut Schumacher a rent check to play in the very nice Victory Field.
This plan will never do as the people will own it, it makes a lot more sense, and it greatly lessens the likelyhood and profitability of corruption.
Also, our infrastructure must be kept under threat (real and fabricated) to justify unconstitutional eo's and other actions by the 0bama regime and any follow on regimes.
The Senate continues to be the only sane branch of government in Indiana. They are not perfect however it seems that their leadership is keeping the Indiana House in check.
With our luck, the "compromise" will be doing both.
Actually, the Natatorium and Track Stadium were NOT built especially for the PanAm Games, which, by the way, were held long after swimming, diving and synchronized swimming Olympic Trials and US Track & Field events and many other national events were held in the facilities.
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