On September 9, 2005 Eric English wrote: I just wanted to pass along some information about the funding of the New Lucas Oil Stadium project that you might be missing. The article that you posted about funding the project with slot money was pretty much wishful thinking.
The stadium project is linked with the expansion of the Indiana Convention Center. These projects will be funded by a 1% tax on all prepared food in the 9 counties that surround Indianapolis except Morgan County. Marion County (County that holds Indy) will fund the project with an additional 1% tax on top of the original 1% that Marion Co. already pays for the RCA Dome. The project will also be funded by an increase in the Marion County hotel tax, rental car tax, also the sale of special Colts vanity license plate, and future lottery tickets earmarked for the project.
State OKs deal with city and Colts
Stadium construction to start within days
By Michele McNeil
michele.mcneil@indystar.com
September 9, 2005
Construction will begin within days on a new Colts stadium that will have more luxurious seats, a street-level team store, escalators to whisk spectators up six major levels and an average of one toilet for every 45 fans.
The state board charged with building the $500 million, retractable-roof stadium unanimously approved a key agreement with the city and the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday that will govern how the stadium will be designed and built.
The approval of the development agreement comes after the city reached a deal last week with the Colts on the lease, a separate agreement that ensures the Colts will stay until at least 2034. The city's Capital Improvement Board authorized President Fred Glass to sign the lease and development agreements Thursday.
"It's a big day for the city," said David Frick, chairman of the Indiana Stadium and Convention Center Building Authority.
"The fun part really now begins."
Thursday, the state authority, which has been operating without any money, was able to jumpstart the action with a $40 million loan to cover some construction costs until the project's entire financing is arranged. That will take a $1 billion loan, which would pay for the new stadium and, later, an expansion of the Indiana Convention Center. On Thursday, the authority approved spending more than $15 million on contracts for fencing, excavation and sewer construction work.
The development agreement does not call for a ticket tax -- and makes it almost impossible for the state to impose one. If the state wants to try, the development agreement says, officials have to consult with several groups first, including the Indiana Pacers, the Indianapolis Indians, the city and hospitality groups. Even then, the Colts could break their lease if the ticket tax is imposed, said John Klipsch, executive director of the Indiana Stadium and Convention Center Building Authority.
The 63-page development agreement does everything from spelling out a construction timeline to saying when the Colts will seek an agreement with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles for a specialty team license plate.
The agreement requires a model of an actual stadium suite to be built by June 1 so the Colts could use it for marketing. The stadium seats also must be in place by March 2008, to help the Colts sell tickets.
Though the stadium will be game-ready by the start of the 2008 football season, the finishing touches, such as the last concession stands, are not expected to be complete until February 2009.
Still more details are in the so-called "program" that complements the development agreement -- details such as the number of toilets. The total could be as many as 1,400, but there's no word yet on how many will be designated for each sex.
There will be 10 to 13 escalators and 10 to 12 elevators for fans. The stadium will include a street-level team store and six levels. About 11 percent of the 63,000 seats will be roomier, club-level seats. Luxury suites will number from 140 to 150.
The playing field will be 25 feet below street level.
The stadium will be built with 15,000 tons of steel and 100,000 cubic yards of concrete, measuring up to 1.8 million square feet.
That will make the new stadium twice the size of Conseco Fieldhouse.
Bigger and better
The new stadium will be bigger and better than the RCA Dome in many ways. Here are just a few:
¥ Size: About 12 acres, or 522,720 square feet compared to the RCA Dome's stadium building area of 7.25 acres, or about 315,810 square feet.
¥ Seats: 63,000 seats, including 7,100 club seats, compared to 57,890 seats in the RCA Dome and about 5,000 club seats.
¥ Suites: 140 to 150 suites, compared to the RCA Dome's 104.
¥ Concession stands: 60, compared to the 38 temporary and 26 permanent in the Dome.
¥ Escalators: 10 to 13, compared to zero.
Slot machines in Indianapolis would be the key to
financing a $500 million, retractable-roof stadium proposed Sunday
night by the mayor and the owner of the Indianapolis Colts.
"We have a deal," said a smiling Mayor Bart
Peterson as he and team owner Jim Irsay held up their arms in
victory before a roaring crowd of more than 55,000 that had turned
out to see the Colts take on the Baltimore Ravens.
While the cheers at the RCA Dome were loud, the
agreement between the city and the franchise marks only the start
of what could be a contentious process.
The debate over expanding gambling in Indianapolis
began Sunday and will reach into the Statehouse as the legislature
considers the plan when it reconvenes next month.
Parts of the plan also must clear the City-County
Council.
Sunday, Peterson and Irsay briefly set aside the
potential political and practical hurdles facing the plan as they
stood on the dome's artificial turf to announce their plans to
ensure that Indianapolis' two-decade-long status as a National
Football League city continues for a second generation. The
announcement before a sold-out game culminated two years of
negotiations.
The proposal calls for the city to build a
63,000-seat stadium, which could expand to seat 70,000, in time for
the 2008 NFL season. The team will sign a new 30-year lease.
Already, lawmakers are looking for concessions.
Senate Tax and Financing Policy Chairman Luke
Kenley, R-Noblesville, said he has asked city officials to make as
many as 6,000 tickets to each Colts game available at prices of $25
or less to help win legislative support for their financing
package.
"I want Joe Sixpack to have a price he can afford
to pay for a ticket," Kenley said.
Peterson plans to sell the stadium deal as part of
a larger $800 million package that includes a massive expansion of
the Indiana Convention Center, which draws more than 800,000
visitors to the city each year and which officials contend is vital
to the Downtown economy.
Peterson has said the Convention Center would be
expanded on the site that now houses the dome, while a new stadium
would be built to the south. In the face of criticism from those
who oppose subsidizing a sports franchise, Peterson has argued that
the team is key to the city's big-city image.
That assertion could be bolstered if building a new
stadium helps the city land a Super Bowl, a prize the NFL has
awarded other cities that have built new stadiums.
Advised lawmakers
Peterson and his aides briefed Gov.-elect Mitch
Daniels and state lawmakers on the package's highlights several
hours before the kickoff of one of the biggest games in franchise
history, a nationally televised contest in which Peyton Manning
made a run at breaking the NFL's single-season touchdown passing
record.
Daniels, who recently expressed doubts about
expanding gambling in Indiana, declined to comment on the plan
Sunday.
Some of those briefed told The Indianapolis Star
that the stadium would be paid for with borrowed money bankrolled
by taxes imposed on yet-to-be-authorized slot machines in Marion
County, as well as a contribution from the Colts and the NFL
totaling about $100 million.
Late Sunday, Peterson spokesman Steve Campbell
confirmed the financing plan would include roughly $400 million
from pull-tab machines, which are similar to slot machines, and the
remainder would come from the team and the league. He said further
details would be released today.
City officials also have said they'd solicit money
from Hoosier businesses, spend some of the Capital Improvement
Board's cash reserves and seek money from the state and federal
governments. The board acts as landlord for the Convention Center
and the city's sporting venues.
Marion County GOP Chairman Michael Murphy, an
Indiana House lawmaker from Indianapolis who was not briefed on the
mayor's plan, said Peterson could have a tough time winning
approval for anything resembling a Downtown casino.
"A Downtown casino would be controversial because
it's a clear expansion of gambling," he said. "I'm sure the
riverboats would fight it."
Sen. Murray Clark said he was not sure the city had
any other good options for finding the money needed to finance the
proposal before the mayor's self-imposed, end-of-the-year deadline
to seal a deal with the Colts.
"I think they're going to need a lot of help from
the legislature," said Clark, R-Indianapolis.
In addition, details to be released today could
include a provision reducing the city's obligation to make annual
payments to the Colts beginning in 2006 to keep them playing here.
Under the team's existing contract, the city could owe the Colts
payments totaling at least $36 million through 2008, when the new
stadium would open.
Without a new lease, the team could leave
Indianapolis after the 2013 season, and possibly earlier.
The Convention Center expansion would be paid for
with higher restaurant, hotel, stadium admission and auto rental
taxes, as well as by lifting the cap on a special taxing district
that captures sales, income and other taxes generated by the city's
major sporting venues, said House Ways and Means Chairman Jeff
Espich, R-Uniondale.
Currently, the city keeps $6.5 million a year of
the roughly $12 million the special sports taxing district
generates. The district was created in 1997 to help build Conseco
Fieldhouse. The rest of the money goes to the state.
State lawmakers have said including this element in
the financing package could be a tough sell, especially while the
state has a nearly $600 million deficit.
"I think that is a weak point of their argument,"
Espich said. "I don't think what they propose can be taken as
gospel just yet."
House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said he
expects Peterson to pitch financing for the stadium and Convention
Center expansion separately. He said having a Super Bowl in the mix
could help.
"Whether that price is too much will be answered
during the legislative session," he said. "Certainly, Central
Indiana's legislators understand the importance of our professional
teams."
Downtown business boon
The city began negotiations with the Colts in 2002,
as rumors spread that Irsay was considering moving the franchise to
Los Angeles. Irsay said repeatedly that he was committed to
Indianapolis but also warned that the RCA Dome, the smallest in the
league, has contributed to the team trailing much of the league in
revenue.
Supporters have said the team has played a crucial
role in the revitalization of Downtown that took place largely
after the Colts arrived from Baltimore in 1984.
Sunday, Jillian's on South Meridian Street was
filled with a sea of blue-clad fans in the hours before the
kickoff. When asked about the effect the Colts have on his
business, general manager Jim Brown looked at the crowd.
"Do I really need to answer that?" he joked.
Brown said the bar's business on the day of home
games is nearly double what it normally is.
"We love the Colts, and it's great they're going to
be here for 30 more years," he said. "I just wish we had 30 more
years of Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James,
too."
City quietly studying designs for Colts stadium
By John Fritze
July 23, 2004
City officials are reviewing designs for a new
Indianapolis Colts stadium drafted by three architectural firms
hired earlier this year to help determine whether a new Downtown
arena is feasible.
Computer designs, 3-D models and cost estimates for
a 70,000-seat stadium have been in the works for months, but
officials in Mayor Bart Peterson's administration refused to make
the designs public.
The Capital Improvement Board, the city body
overseeing the RCA Dome, requested the designs in March and paid
three firms $35,000 each for their work -- even as city officials
insist they have not decided whether to replace the 20-year-old
dome.
"We were really looking to get ideas and feedback
as part of the feasibility assessment," said Fred Glass, president
of the quasi-governmental board and one of the city's top
negotiators in talks with the Colts.
"It truly is an assessment piece, not an
implementation piece."
Talk of a new stadium, kept under wraps for months
by city and Colts officials, is now directly linked to developing
plans to expand the Indiana Convention Center -- a necessary move,
the city has said, to stay competitive in the convention
industry.
In a March 25 letter, the board asked four firms to
submit design proposals by May. The letter asked those firms to
keep several assumptions in mind, such as:
• A new stadium would have a capacity of
63,000 -- adjustable to up to 70,000 -- with 120 suites and 7,500
club seats. That compares with the RCA Dome's 57,890 seats and 104
suites.
• The arena would have a fixed roof instead of
a retractable roof -- like the kind in use at Houston's Reliant
Stadium. The letter, however, suggests designers should provide a
retractable-roof alternative.
• The building would be located on 25 acres
south of the Indiana Convention Center, which could be expanded by
200,000 to 275,000 square feet into an area now occupied by the RCA
Dome.
Three firms responded to the letter: Ellerbe
Becket, of Kansas City, Mo., which designed the Arizona
Diamondbacks' Bank One Ballpark; HOK Sport, also of Kansas City,
which designed Reliant Stadium; and Dallas-based HKS
Architects.
A fourth company, Kansas City-based HNTB Corp.,
which designed the original RCA Dome, did not respond, Glass
said.
None of the design companies returned phone calls
seeking comment.
Glass refused to disclose cost estimates produced
by the firms but said the board has been working on an assumption
that a fixed-roof stadium would cost roughly $450 million.
The Colts and the city have been in negotiations
for a new long-term contract since late 2002. The team's lease runs
through the 2013 season. But the contract includes an escape clause
that could kick in after the 2006 season if the team's revenue
doesn't consistently match the National Football League's median
income.
Last year, Mayor Bart Peterson said it was
reasonable to assume the two sides would sign a new lease this
year. Weeks later, Colts owner Jim Irsay said such a deal would
likely include "something that would lead to a new stadium."
Peterson refused to comment on the letter Thursday.
His chief deputy, Michael O'Connor, said the need to expand the
Convention Center is currently a bigger factor than the Colts
lease, in terms of stadium planning.
"We're going to have to plan for a new venue" if
the Convention Center is built into the current RCA Dome space,
O'Connor said. "We've been very clear that we're going to expand
the Convention Center."
City and Colts officials would not comment on what
impact the designs have had on contract talks with the team.
Reached Thursday, Colts Senior Executive Vice
President Pete Ward refused to comment on the designs.
The two sides met last week in a negotiating
session that both Irsay and Peterson attended, O'Connor said. He
said the designs were not directly discussed at the meeting.
The request for those designs was not approved by
the Capital Improvement Board. That would have made the issue
public. Instead, a "building task force" created by the board
authorized the request, Glass said. The letter is marked
confidential and asks firms not to share its contents.
On Thursday, The Star filed a formal request for
the stadium designs under the state's open-records law.
Asked why the letter was kept secret and why
designs would not be released to the public, O'Connor said there
was nothing wrong with commissioning the work in private.
He added that the public would have a chance to
weigh in on designs later.
"None of these are proposals," O'Connor said. "They
are conceptual models."
At least one sports expert said it makes sense to
work out conceptual designs before sealing a deal with a team. That
way, officials know what they're getting into.
Cleveland State University sports economist Mark
Rosentraub added that Indianapolis' positioning was not uncommon in
other cities.
"If you're going to do a deal with a team, you have
to be sure of your goals and objectives," Rosentraub said. "It
sounds like Indianapolis is taking a step in the right
direction."
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