The Future of Professional Basketball in Indianapolis

Indianapolis and basketball go together like Bobby Knight and airborne chairs. This town, the capital of the Hoosier State (as in Hoosiers), has a long and storied hoops history. From Crispus Attucks and Oscar Robertson to Hinkle Fieldhouse and the 2010 Butler Bulldogs, Indy has served as the home base for countless legendary basketball icons and epic on-court battles. But professional basketball has been somewhat of a different story in the Circle City, and the current economic landscape calls into question the future of pro hoops in Indianapolis.

The Pacers and their city have always had an unusual relationship compared with what you will find in many other towns. The team was forged during the winter of 1967 in the glow of the upstart American Basketball Association's promise to compete with the big boys of the NBA. Desperate to bring big-time sports to Indy, six local investors pooled their funds to buy into the ABA and then christened their team the "Pacers". This naming choice was a harbinger of the club's perennial status as the second (or third) fiddle in Indianapolis' sports symphony.

From the beginning, the issue of playing venue has been a fairly constant concern for the Pacers. Throughout most of their ABA years, the team played at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum, where they fairly dominated the league. Five championship appearances during the league's nine years helped the Pacers earn a transfer to the NBA when the ABA folded after the 1975-76 season AND a downtown home at the spiffy new Market Square Arena. It has been rumored that, even during these halcyon days, the Pacers were in financial straits and were only included in the NBA expansion because of the relatively attractive television market that Indianapolis offered the league.

Most of the Pacers' first two decades in the NBA were dismal, as the team continually posted poor records and showed little in the way of personality. The unpopular draft pick of Reggie Miller in 1987, though, would prove to be something of a watershed moment for the franchise. Although it took a while to get things heated up, Reggie led the team to a deep playoff run in the spring of 1994, and the Pacers were legitimate title contenders for the next seven years or so. Importantly, the excitement generated during this period helped cement the city's commitment to building a new basketball arena, Conseco Fieldhouse, which opened in 1999.

Generally acknowledged as one of the better sports arenas in the United States, particularly in the realm of the NBA, Conseco has nevertheless become a bit of an albatross for the Pacers and the city itself. The Simons, who have owned the team since 1983, claim that the club has lost millions of dollars every year over the last decade. Contributing significantly to that loss these days is the estimated $15 million inannual operating costs for keeping Conseco's doors open, expenses that the Pacers incur as part of their current contract with Indy's Capital Improvement Board (CIB). That contract poses at least some threat to the future of pro basketball in the city.

The Pacers are now trying to renegotiate their lease, asking the CIB to pick up the operating tab for Conseco. Pacers supporters cite the sweetheart deal that the Colts have in Lucas Oil Stadium as a good reason to cut the hoopsters some slack, but the Colts mean something completely different to the city than do the Pacers. With the Colts, we really do have big time sports here. Without them, we're back to the cow town days. Without the Pacers, well, there's always Butler basketball, right?

Not surprisingly, these lease talks have included threats, thinly veiled or not, of the Pacers leaving town with their quirky legacy in hand and finding a hungrier city, one willing to roll out the red carpet. Having lured the Colts here under similar circumstances, city leaders are no doubt aware that such a move is not out of the realm of possibility. Within their own sport, the Pacers can look to the erstwhile Seattle Sonics for recent inspiration.

This issue has alternately brewed and seethed for the better part of a year, and the outlook is still not completely clear. For their part, the CIB is already facing a cash shortfall, as are most State and city agencies. It does not appear likely that a brand new long-term deal is in the immediate offing, but there have been some recent rumblings about a possible short-term renegotiation that might get both sides over their respective humps until something more permanent can be ironed out. Whether they stay or go, the Pacers have left an indelible mark on the city over the last four decades. In many ways, the franchise and the town have grown up together, so it will be interesting to see if they ride off in the sunset hand-in-hand or if the Pacers have to hit the long lonesome trail out of town.