Stepping Stones

Daniel Shelton
dpshelton@blogspot.com
Eng. 201.501
Essay 2 Final draft
2,090 words

Just a small town in the middle of the country, Indianapolis, Indiana had aspirations of becoming a big city. With no big sites to entice people to visit what was being referred to as the crossroads of America. The city saw professional sports as a means to reach their goals. The city of Indianapolis, Indiana has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of professional sports.

Indianapolis, Indiana in its history has had only two major sports team, The Colts and the Pacers. The Colts are one of the original NFL teams. The franchise was moved to the city of Baltimore, Maryland back in the 1940’s. The Miami Seahawks moved to Baltimore and was dissolved a couple of years later, next the Dallas franchise relocated to Baltimore and thrived there until they moved to Indianapolis. They spent forty rollercoaster years in Baltimore helping the city to prosper as more than just a port town and also helped to establish the NFL as one of America’s favorite sports. Don Shula, Johnny Unitas, and Raymond Berry where some of the greatest coaches and players in history and they were involved in some of the greatest games in the history of not only the NFL but football period (indystar.com). The Colts carried the city of Baltimore into greatness when they won the greatest game ever played, the 1958 world championship over the New York Giants. In 1972, after the Colts won their first Super Bowl against the Cowboys, which is nicknamed the Blunder Bowl, the team was traded to Robert Irsay for the Los Angeles Rams franchise; Irsay family still owns the Colts franchise today. In 1984, then owner Robert Irsay, who was unhappy that is demands for the city of Baltimore to renovate the stadium has been denied, moved the Colts franchise to Indianapolis. Many fans in Baltimore still feel betrayed that their team snuck away in the middle of the night as they slept. For most of its time the Colts franchise in Indianapolis did not live up to its world champion reputation, having trouble making the playoffs and trading away hall of famers; Eric Dickerson and Marshall Faulk. 1998 brought new life to the Colts when they acquired quarterback Peyton Manning and when coupled with wide receiver Marvin Harrison, one of the top in the league, the Colts had a dangerous duo. The offense was strengthened the next year when the colts drafted Edgerrin James at running back. Even with all these additions the Colts would be labeled in the following years as master chokers, never making it past the AFC Championship. Their fortunes changed in 2007 when the Colts finally made it over the hurdle that was the New England Patriots, reaching and winning their first Super Bowl in Indianapolis (indystar.com).

The Indiana representative in the basketball world, the Indiana Pacers, traveled a much different road. Some local leaders in Indiana had decided to create their own basketball league. The new team adopted the name Indiana to give everyone in the state a feeling of participation and Pacer after the pace car in professional racing, the state’s only other major event at the time. The Pacers started their life in 1960 as a member of the American Basketball Association, or ABA. They had very humble beginnings playing their games at the coliseum at the State Fair Grounds (lostindiana.net). When the Pacers exploded and dominated the ABA winning three consecutive championships just a few years after their creation, then Mayor Richard Lugar believed that the organization could fuel the growth that downtown Indianapolis needed. So in 1972 he proposed his solution to build a home for the upstart Pacers in the heart of downtown. He petitioned for the city to use the city’s funds to build the new stadium. Again local entrepreneurs helped the city to overcome a hurdle in the effort to legitimize the city and state. Built straddling market street in Indianapolis and constructed by an investor group known as “Market Square Associates” the stadium was named Market Square Arena (lostindiana.net). Market Square Arena would be the home of the Pacers until 1999 when the city built the newer more state-of-the-art Conseco Fieldhouse. The Pacers were a major part of the ABA for the next two years, until the ABA and the NBA merged. The Pacers and three other teams; the San Antonio Spurs, the New York Nets, and the Denver Nuggets, where all absorbed by the NBA along with many of the customs that made the ABA popular. The Pacers who had been so dominate in the ABA struggled tremendously in the NBA, achieving only one winning season in its first thirteen years as a NBA franchise (nba.com). Their fortunes changed in the 90’s, where through better overall team management they made the Eastern Conference Finals from 1994 to 2000, where they sealed their only trip to the NBA Championship. Since the Pacers were swept in the NBA finals by the LA Lakers, they have spiraled downwards having more felony convictions that world titles. The years after 2000 Pacer legend Reggie Miller retired, the team was involved in a street brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit which involved the teams and the fans in the seats, and have had multiple players suspended and arrested for violating drug policies and getting into shootouts at downtown nightclubs.

The city has jumped through many hoops in an attempt to attract professional sports teams to Indiana. First came the Pacers home, Market Square Arena, an 18,000 seat building which would not only serve as the home of the Pacers but would also be used for concerts, hockey games, and amateur sporting events. With inflation the same $24 million stadium built in 1972 would cost $122.2 million in 2008 (westegg.com). The staggering cost is nothing compared to the precedent it set. The Arena was a collaboration between city officials who showed the desire for the new stadium and private investors who fronted the money necessary for construction and demolition of the site. The design of the stadium was also unique in that the stadium sits atop two parking structures and straddles Market Street below. The design and the use of public and private money to fund the stadium were completely unheard at the time, but today is the set standard. The Hoosier Dome, which would later have the naming rights sold to RCA, was also revolutionary. The idea of an air supported roof was did not sit well with many. Back then Indianapolis, IN, Minneapolis, MN, and Canada were the only to put it to action. With inflation the $77.5 million would cost today roughly $158.6 million (westegg.com). Unlike Market Square Arena the cost of the Hoosier Dome was not split between the city and private investors such as the Colts organization. The city was left to fund the stadium completely and did so by enacting a one percent food and beverage tax on Marion County. Both the RCA Dome and Market Square Arena brought the city to the forefront of the nation.

The Colts and the Pacers have both told the city of Indianapolis that they may be forced to leave. After twenty years the Colts organization decided that it was time for an upgrade. They started to demand that a new more advanced stadium be built. They told the mayor that if the new stadium wasn’t built they would shop the team to other cities that would be more willing to meet their demands. Mayor Peterson folded and allocated many of the city’s depleting funds to attempt to fund the Colts future home. The new stadium would cost an estimated $172 million which would have to be paid for almost exclusively by the city. The city again defaulted to an increase in the food and beverage tax, but this time the tax would be added onto the one percent already imposed to pay for the RCA Dome thirty years before. When the Capital Improvement Board lobbied the Colts to front more of the starting cost and attempted to reopen negotiations with the Colts owner Jim Irsay said that "I'm not going to renegotiate. That's the bottom line. All we did was negotiate in good faith. We've done everything we can to have a great organization. We've lived up to our part. We've exceeded our part." Irsay then said that "In other words, we'll let you know what we want, when we want it. What you signed means nothing." Under the terms of the new lease, the Colts get a hold of forty percent of all concession, merchandise, and ticket sales in the stadium. They receive all the profit from companies who want to advertise inside the stadium. On top of all that they don’t have to pay rent or hire anyone to work in the stadium. All of the concession and ticket vendor, ushers, security, and janitors are all paid for generously by the taxpayers (http://www.indystar.com/). Rob Grand the chairman of the CIB said "We're making guesses until we have actual numbers, We're bleeding cash right now, absolutely" (www. football.ballparks.com).

The Pacers on the other hand are a struggling organization; with the lack of success on the court attendance has been dwindling. They have told city officials that they are having problems just paying for the upkeep of the new Conseco Feildhouse. The Pacers have pleaded with the Capital Improvement Board, CIB, to take some of the burden from the organization. The trouble with asking the CIB to help alleviate some of its debt is that they themselves have a monstrous $78 million deficit (ballparks.com). The Pacers’ organization is concerned that if their financial issues don’t improve they will be forced make drastic changes. Pat Early, the vice president of the CIB said "It's possible they could move the team. It's possible they could sell the team. It is also possible they could shut the team down. What's not possible is the Pacers losing the kind of money they're losing this year indefinitely. (espn.com)"

They proposed the food and beverage tax as all that was necessary to fund construction and maintain upkeep of the new stadium. The food and beverage tax is a one percent tax on any food or beverage. For consumers that mean a tax on what they eat drink at restaurants, fast food place, or at the local deli. For the owners of these restaurants and delicatessens, this means a one percent tax on any equipment or product that is necessary to prepare and sell this food. So the ingredients, the oven or fryer, the utensils to cool the food, the packaging you intend to sell the food in, any utensils that the consumer needs to eat the food with, and the actual finished product being sold all has a one percent tax on it (http://www.in.gov/ pdf). The actual amount of money needed was too much for just one county of 876,804 people, so the city council petitioned other counties that surround Marion to pass the food and beverage tax to lighten the burden (http://www.city-data.com/). The bill was introduced to all the surrounding countries and was successful in almost all of the potential ten counties, only failing to pass in Morgan County. Some other counties and towns throughout the state have formally requested that the bill be brought before their legislature and passed in the towns of Allen, Carmel, Martinsville, and in the counties of Delaware and Vanderburgh. Since its passage the food and beverage tax has raised in the past four years $141.8 million which is actually above projected values and has exceeded the expectations of the local legislature in all counties it passed in except for the central county of Marion. This could be due to the fact that the food and beverage tax was added onto the already existing food and beverage tax that was proposed to pay for the now demolished RCA Dome and the fact that the taxpayers are disturbed that the money isn’t going to pay off the $75 million dollars still owed on the RCA Dome (solidarity-us.org).

From the crossroads to the limelight, Indianapolis has pushed it way onto center stage. The city has recently made some large investments toward its future. Whether or not these investments lead to a brighter tomorrow remain to be seen. These long-standing and historic franchises have given the city its start and it prosperity to this point; now all we can do is hope that they continue to do the same.