INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA now has exclusive rights to the Indiana Convention Center, where teams will practice, and Lucas Oil Stadium, where several will wind up playing, through the end of March Madness, culminating with the National Championship on April 5.
The city's Capital Improvement Board (CIB), which runs the two venues, signed off on the lease agreements with the NCAA Friday night. 13News received electronic copies through an open records request.
The documents show the CIB initially set the fee for renting the Convention Center from March 7 -April 7 at $1,213,652, then dropped the fee to $84,000. That includes "skilled and unskilled" workers to help with set-up. Part of that? Converting ballrooms and other spaces into 12 practice courts.
The contract for Lucas Oil Stadium shows "no rental fee" with the CIB paying for "all personnel and services deemed necessary by the NCAA, including, but not limited to, ushers, ticket sellers, ticket takers, exit watch persons, security personnel, a fire marshal, a first-aid room staffed by paramedics or other certified emergency personnel, maintenance, construction and cleanup of the venue, venue grounds, etc."
While the court, or playing floor, belongs to the NCAA, the CIB provided the crews to assemble it. The city is also responsible for all the basketball equipment, including state-of-the-art scoreboards, timing devices, game clocks, and a full-time production staff.
The city gets all proceeds from food, beverages (including beer and liquor) and catering, plus most parking revenue, though the NCAA gets 300 spots for charter buses and 400 for personal vehicles. Another 50 (paid) spots are reserved for limousines.
The NCAA is far from alone in receiving incentives. For years, other large events, like the Super Bowl and NRA Convention have also received incentives.
When tourism officials announced Indy would host all of March Madness, they predicted a healthy economic impact of at least $100 million and that was before the Marion County Health Department signed off on allowing venues to allow up 25 percent capacity.
The city's hotels, restaurants and bars, decimated by the pandemic, are hoping for a big boost. The city, too, should see a bump in hospitality taxes (food and beverage, lodging, car rental) and the sales tax, too.