INDIANAPOLIS — Indy Eleven is proposing a $550 million, 20,000-seat stadium, as part of a larger real estate development, to “usher in a new era for soccer in Indiana.”
The proposal, called Eleven Park, would include a public plaza, office building, retail center, apartments and a hotel, as well as the new stadium.
“Soccer is the globe’s most popular sport and the world’s game needs a permanent home in our state,” said Ersal Ozdemir, CEO of Keystone Group and owner of Indy Eleven. “By paving the way for a world-class soccer facility as part of this transformational development, Indiana can fully capture a once-in-a-generation opportunity to secure the future of soccer in its capital city.”
The plans include about $400 million in private investment and about $150 million related to the stadium, public plazas and infrastructure. The financing plan currently calls for a public-private partnership with no appropriations from city or state governments, according to an Eleven Park spokesperson.
Still, Indy Eleven will need help from the Indianapolis City-County Council, the Capital Improvement Board and the lawmakers at the Indiana Statehouse to finance the project.
"The idea is interesting," Indiana Sen. Pro Tem Rodric Bray said Thursday morning. “It would be a nice thing for the city and the downtown area -- to bring an additional attraction to downtown. Obviously, there is some cost and mechanics that would have to be sorted out."
The proposed location of the development has not been announced.
In 2015, Indy Eleven proposed an $82 million stadium that needed the Indiana legislature’s approval.
The Indiana House approved a plan to authorize more than $80 million for a new stadium. The Senate approved a version of that bill that authorized about $20 million in improvements to Michael Carroll Stadium. The two sides couldn’t come to an agreement on the actual bill, and it died.
“[Senators] are receptive to it,” Bray said. “I don’t know the details of the proposal yet, but that may have changed. Depending on how that changes, it might make it more attractive to the legislatures.”
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