By Bob Kravitz

Team president Peter Wilt was walking up New York Street on the IUPUI campus shortly before 6 p.m., checking out the surroundings near Carroll Stadium on the night of the Indy Eleven's sellout debut.

"I saw two people, two of our biggest supporters, and they had been there for a half an hour,'' Wilt said at halftime of the Eleven's franchise-opening 1-1 draw with the Carolina RailHawks. "Then I walked around the corner and saw the line; it kept going and going and going more than 100 yards. I was saying to people, `It's not general admission seating, it's not first-come, first-served, go have a beer in the parking lot and come back in a half hour or so.'

"And they're like, `No, we want to get in now when it opens.' I was truly surprised by the enthusiasm of people who wanted to get inside and get this thing going. The whole thing…I'm humbled. I really am."

Professional soccer has tried here in Indianapolis, and it's failed, for any number of different reasons. But if opening night is any indication, owner Ersal Ozdemir and Wilt have a winning proposition on their hands. Fans came early and stayed late, and were rewarded with an entertaining draw.

The Eleven sold more than 7,000 season tickets in short order, and would have sold more than 10,000 if they'd have chosen to do so. They cut it off at 7,000 in the interest of drawing new fans to the games, specifically group-ticket sales and single-game tickets. Little wonder the Eleven is already thinking about building its own soccer-only stadium and moving up to Major League Soccer. Clearly, there is a market here for the sport of the millennials.

"The reaction, the noise, it's nothing like I've seen or heard before," Wilt said. "We had a bigger crowd (more than 36,000) for our first game (with the Chicago Fire) but the passion is greater here. The big part is the community here has totally bought in. Look around: How many Indy Eleven jerseys have you seen, and sweatshirts and scarves? Our first year in Chicago, we didn't see that until we got well into the season. Indy bought into the Indy Eleven before we ever started."

The heartbeat of the Eleven is the Brickyard Battalion, a group of roughly 2,000 soccer zealots who have turned the west end zone into the city's biggest pep rally. It's Area 55 and the G2 Zone on steroids. From the opening kickoff until the very end, they stand, they chant, they sing. It is a taste of international soccer on local soil.

"They were formed more than two years ago with the idea of bringing pro soccer to Indiana," Wilt said. "They had a Facebook page, a web page, invented a team name, created scarves. They were in place before we ever had a team, before (owner) Ersal (Ozdemir) brought me down here. They're the ones creating this atmosphere tonight. They're advocates. They're evangelists. They're the ones who made this happen.''

The Battalion aren't fans, per se. They are supporters. And they're loud and resistant to fatigue. And they had plenty of company Saturday night as the Eleven performed in front of a standing-room only house.

"I've never played in front of a crowd like this," said Eleven forward and IU graduate Mike Ambersley, who scored the Eleven's lone goal in the first half. "I can't say enough about them."

We won't know for a couple of years whether Indy can support the Eleven and the newly-minted Fuel on top of the Colts, Pacers and Indians, plus all the college teams in the area. This is an undeniably rabid sports town, but it's a small town in terms of dollars. Is there enough to go around for everybody?

We can say this much: The Eleven got off to a rousing start.

Even if there were a couple of logistical glitches.

"In a word, lines," Wilt said. "We had long lines at concession stands and for merchandise, and we'll get that fixed. I guess if you're not going to have a problem with long lines anywhere, it's good that it wasn't at the restrooms."

Parking was a bit of a challenge, too, but Wilt believes that once season-ticket holders figure out ingress and egress, things will run more smoothly.

"We did get everyone into the stadium by kickoff, though, so that's good," Wilt said.

Clearly, Carroll Stadium cannot be the Indy Eleven's home in the future. There's a reason Ozdemir already has talked about building a soccer-only facility in the city. Carroll is small and antiquated, an erector set of a stadium.

But first things first.

The Eleven made a good first impression. Now it's a matter of maintaining it.

"This is the future of sports in America," Wilt said. "Groups supporting this team are the future of America. Suburban youth soccer, young adults, the millennials, the new Americans – first and second generation immigrants. This is their sport. Soccer is a primary passion for them. And Indiana finally has a team."

Indiana has had pro soccer teams before, and they've failed. But the time is right now. The demographics are right now. This was a start, and it was a loud and impressive one.

Bob Kravitz is a columnist for The Indianapolis Star. Call him at (317) 444-6643 or email bob.kravitz@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @BKravitz