Pacers Sports & Entertainment is proposing a multi-million dollar expansion for downtown. They want the city to sign off on a new building to house a training facility, offices and a major tenant.
Pacers Spokesman Bill Benner said they will share their plans at Monday's Capital Improvement Board meeting when they ask the CIB to build on CIB-owned property. The Pacers want to build their facility on the site of an elevated parking lot. It's on the east side of Delaware across from the Fieldhouse and adjacent to the Virginia Avenue parking garage.
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The lease agreement between the CIB and Pacers gives the team the right to use it, which they do for employee parking.
A CIB spokesman said, that lease needs to be revised to allow the Pacer to build there, though the CIB would still own the property.
While Benner declined further comment on the plans until Monday, WTHR.com columnist Bob Kravitz said he's not surprised they want a new facility.
"No, not at all, because it's kind of an arms race in the NBA," Kravitz said. "The Chicago Bulls just opened their own Taj Mahal, so this is pretty typical. They're spending money to draw free agents, just as colleges have their own facilities to bring in recruits."
The team's current practice facility was built as part of the Fieldhouse 15 years ago. It's a large court below street level, where fans can sometimes watch players practice.
In recent years, many teams, including the Cleveland Cavaliers, have built state-of-the art training facilities. Cleveland spent nearly $28 million on theirs. Besides the practice courts, it has a weight room, theater, hydrotherapy pools and on-site medical staff.
Teams have said the facilities are an important recruiting tool as they're where players spend the majority of their time. Some have used the facilities to drive more revenue by selling naming rights or opening practice to fans.
Kravitz said that, too, is likely appealing to the Pacers.
"It's not a team that's rolling in the dough," he said. "It's still a small-market team that has always struggled to make it financially, so if this helps them and it's done in the right way and the taxpayer is not left holding the bill, it could be advantageous."
The Pacers say the building here would be privately financed with ownership turned over to the CIB at no cost at the end of the revised lease agreement.
But who pays for things like maintenance, operations and security? Also unclear, how much office space the building calls for and who the major tenant is. Neither Benner nor CIB spokesman Robert Vane would provide any further details, saying the plan would be discussed in full at Monday's CIB meeting.
As for the potential cost of the project? The Thunder spent $14 million on their facility and the Sixers' building, which is under construction, comes with an $82 million price tag.
