Anecdotally, there seems to be an appetite for professional soccer in Indianapolis. The local ownership group preparing to make the commitment to launch the team would like to get a sense for the level of support the team would get. If there is an Indianapolis team for 2014 and season tickets for 15 games range from the low $100s to the mid $300s, how many can you pledge to purchase if the team joins the NASL?
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First, the team needs to have a dedicated ownership group. Very few professional soccer teams in this world make a profit. MLS makes little to nothing. Second, We should rent a smaill high school stadium before saving enough to building our own. The Indiana Twisters only agveraged 2-3,000. The Blast were not much better.
I voted for our professional soccer team to have there own place to call home. The goal should not be to play in the NASL but in the MLS. That is why we need our own Theater of Dreams. A place with a unique atmosphere like the Portland Timbers or Sounders. A stadium were the entire crowd never sits and sings the whole 90+ minutes.
Kuntz is out dated and in a bad neighborhood with limited parking.
Lucas Oil would be to expensive to rent!!!! The team would spend more money for rent than on the teams salary.
Butler Bowl is difficult to get to and its a football stadium first and soccer stadium second.
Carroll stadium at IUPUI does have new turf but the stadium is run down. At night it is not the best neighborhood to be in. IUPUI parking has made most of there parking a 24 hour parking pass only. There parking pass patrol will hand out tickets all hours of the day.
Please downtown downtown downtown! Building stadia there is a huge reason pro and amateur sports have succeeded so well in Indy over the years. It’s also been great for the economics and dynamics of the city’s core. Imagine marching from bars, restaurants or tailgates to the pitch - chanting, singing, waving flags - building comraderie and interest (read as: fan base). None of those benefits or culture-building can happen if a stadium is placed out in a cornfield!!
IUPUI’s new turf is perfect. I play intramural soccer here and we play on the pitch. I watched the state final games there and you aren’t that far from the action. I feel like a supporters group bleachers could be placed on the track, sort of like IU does at Armstrong. Carroll Stadium is by far the best short term option. LOS in the MLS? Sure. Westfield, Butler, too far out of the way. Scheduling with the Indians would make Victory Field nearly impossible, but I agree a duel stadium team would work. Watching some games at Victory Field would be awesome!
Kuntz Stadium parking is very limited, and having played on the pitch it is not one that I would say is in the condition it should be for a top-tier team. The facilities are definitely showing their age. The whole facility would definitely need an overhaul. But it is not a bad place to watch a game.
Carroll Stadium is nice, but situated east-west, not the optimum for evening games. Not a big fan of the track, but according to their website “In 2012, Carroll Stadium opened a new FieldTurf soccer/infield.”
Butler Bowl is great as far as parking and atmosphere, but as someone mentioned above the football lines detract from that somewhat.
LOS seems completely unrealistic from the standpoint of cost and ability to fill seats.
Grand Park is still a long way from completion, and having games that far north does not seem conducive to getting the whole city behind a team. But, that would place games near several soccer clubs in the metro area.
FYI, Lucas Oil Stadium could be downsized with curtains to any configuration. Keeping the mid- ring of suites in play would reduce capacity to about 15k I believe, while an 8k set uP could be achieved by keeping one side of the mid ring suites. There are certainly other issues, but when thinking about Lucas Oil, keep the potential downsizing opportunity into consideration.
Just please don’t play on a football field like the old mls
Not everyone is a northsider so Westfield and Butler should be out. The season overlaps baseball completely so I cannot see Victory Field. Kuntz or Carroll would work.
I gotta think Carroll Stadium is the best short-term option…you gotta have something located downtown, since that’s just where everything is, and Carroll is probably the cheapest option. Someone mentioned Victory Field, which I hadn’t thought of, but I think that could work great if it could be made affordable for the team to use. Either option I think has to be something of a quick fix before something more permanent could be worked out.
I agree. Lucas Oil is too big and the Butler Bowl is too far out of the way.
Games on gridiron look amateurish. Its like flipping the bird at your fans. That rules out Butler Bowl and Lucas Oil.
Lucas Oil would be horrible. The 6,000 fans (optimistically, except perhaps for the opener and for Open Cup games, which might draw 9,000, optimistically) will be dwarfed.
Grand Park in Westfield. What is that? Is it even built? Even including that as an option is sad. It screams “we’re a youth club team.” I don’t enjoy traveling to Westfield-and I live in Carmel. It’s just too far away from everything relevant.
Carroll Stadium. Do-able. Chances are the university will take some (all) the parking revenue, which alone could be a deal breaker (for Butler and LOS too), and being cut off from the game by a track moat is lame, and its old and gross, and I hear the pitch is horrible, but other than that, why not?
Kuntz Memorial Stadium. Do-able, but needs real work. Built for PanAm ’87, and looks like it. But the pitch is nice and it has an intimate feel. Will the city let you capture parking revenue?
But why isn’t the best choice listed-VICTORY FIELD. I used to go to Portland Timbers games at PGE Park and it was great. The stadium is fantastic, the location perfect, parking isn’t great but is available, a soccer pitch fits, and surely a deal can be made for box seats-do it!
A remodel of IUPUI Stadium makes the most sense. Multi-purpose (Track) and could get some input from IUPUI Athletic Dept. The location is ideal, parking is available, and Hotels within walking distance make it a huge plus with some minor upgrades.
To think that enough people would come to soccer games to fill even half of Lucas Oil Stadium is absurd. Carrol Stadium or Butler Bowl would be perfect.
Butler Bowl would be great. Parking, tailgating, the sides for lawn seating, lights….you get the picture
butler bowl would be a great venue. perfect for tailgateing and could hold enough people and the fans wouldnt be that far away from the action.
Vote for Luca Oil Stadium! It is the best location and holds the most people! We could fill at least 1/2 of it!!
I love your enthusiam!
There is no way in hell an NASL team could sell 35,000 tickets. Lucas Oil is unrealistic.
Vote for Brian Carroll Stadium at IUPUI! It’s turf field is brand new, it looks stunning, holds just the right amount of people, and is located right in the heart of Indianapolis!
Er, I meant Michael Carroll Stadium, but you get the point.