opinion

Tully: On drugs or not, Indy Eleven stadium worth a look

A year ago, even before the Indy Eleven had played its inaugural match, I wrote a wide-eyed and unskeptical column that rather enthusiastically endorsed the idea of building a taxpayer-backed $87 million stadium for the new soccer team.

Was I on drugs?

Well, yes, I was.

Full disclosure: I wrote most of that column last February within hours of coming home from surgery for a broken ankle. Various painkillers were running wild through my system and my insistence on writing that afternoon was probably as dumb an idea as running on ice had been the day before. Whether it's true or not, and while more than a few readers surely think I regularly write while inebriated, I've conveniently blamed my drugged-out post-surgery haze for a column that I've regretted ever since.

Now, I haven't regretted the column because of the ultimate position it took. But rather because it wasn't nearly as skeptical as any column about a big-budget item backed by taxpayers should be. Serious and valid questions were raised last year about the financing plan, and about the wisdom of locking in 30 years of debt payments before the team's first goal was scored. I pushed those concerns aside and essentially said, "Let's build it!"

Apparently, painkillers turn grown men into suckers for soccer teams.

Well, a year has passed and I can assure you that not a drug of any kind is running through me today. But I still think there is a lot of merit in the idea of building a soccer stadium. After reading every report and analysis I could find, and watching the team shore up its numbers, I still hope the state legislature gives the idea a good look. And, yes, after seeing how fully Central Indiana embraced the new team, I still hope that the stadium ultimately gets built.

I can already hear the shouting: Taxpayer-funded giveaway! Corporate welfare! Druggie!

I get it.

But before things get out of hand, there are two crucial points to bring to this debate. Two points that seem to have been overlooked by many.

First, this is not a proposal to have government dip into its coffers and hand over a check to the Indy Eleven. This is instead a plan that would collect money generated at the stadium (taxes on tickets, food, beer, merchandise and income) and use it to pay off the debt on a stadium now estimated to cost about $82 million. This is about a stadium that would likely be built on 10 acres of unused land that generates little if any tax revenue.

Opposing the plan is fine. But let's not act as if this will take existing money away from schools, parks, police or anything else. This is about growing the overall pot of tax money collected and using new collections to finance an asset that would create jobs and have spillover benefits for bars, restaurants and other businesses. This is about financing a stadium with tax money tied directly to the stadium.

"We have to view this as a business, as an economic generator," said Paul Okeson, an executive at Indy Eleven founder Ersal Ozdemir's firm. "Because that's what it is."

And while I'd love to see the private sector build its own stadium without government involvement, the reality is that's not going to happen. It didn't happen with the other Downtown stadiums that have paid off so well for Indianapolis, and it won't happen for a soccer stadium.

Second, while it is crucial that lawmakers and media types dig deep into the financing plan, it is important to note that if the numbers don't add up, the financial market won't bite on the bonds. That's an important backstop. That gives those advocating for this plan a serious incentive to make sure their projections hold water.

The stadium debate is just getting started at the Statehouse. The best course of action is to let this debate play out over the next two months and force stadium backers to answer crucial questions about the team's longterm viability and financial projections. The city will likely be asked to co-sign on this deal, so it is critical that independent analysts back up the team's studies showing the stadium will generate more than the roughly $5 million needed annually to pay back the bonds.

The Eleven's first season brought one sold-out night after another to IUPUI's Carroll Stadium. It provided a vibrant and fresh addition to the Downtown landscape. It solidified the city's place as a sports mecca and it reached into an untapped market.

Carroll Stadium works for now, but it's far too limiting for a team that wants to grow, increase its revenue and improve a fan experience that is crucial to longterm success.

So, yes, tough questions need be asked and answered. The team must be able to prove that its revenue projections are based in reality, and it likely needs to get more financially invested in the stadium's funding. If those things don't happen, the team won't have earned its new home, and that's fine.

But a year after I wrote my first column on this topic, and more than a year after this debate began, I still see a lot of merit in the idea. So let's have a good, old-fashioned debate in the coming months. Let's just make sure it's a sober one this time.

You can reach me at matthew.tully@indystar.com or at Twitter.com/matthewltully.