INDIANAPOLIS — A group of more than 50 Hoosiers is spending the weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the 2023 NBA All-Star Weekend.
The volunteers and community members are meeting with league officials and host committees. That's because after Sunday's All-Star game, Indianapolis is on deck for 2024.
Danny Lopez, with Pacers Sports and Entertainment, made the trip to Salt Lake City.
"We're really excited," Lopez said.
It's been more than 2,000 days since Larry Bird dropped an IndyCar up Fifth Avenue in New York to deliver the All-Star bid on behalf of Indianapolis.
Now, the city is one year away from hosting the worldwide event.
According to Lopez, the host committee and nearly 400 volunteers are already at work with the goal of making this the most successful, most inclusive, and most celebratory NBA All-Star Weekend in league history.
"We really want to make sure people understand this is not just a corporate event," Lopez said. "This is an event for everybody in the community."
Lopez said NBA All-Star Weekend is about much more than basketball, which will also be the case in Indianapolis in 2024.
"We want people to come out," Lopez said. "We want people to experience the official events, but there will be unofficial events. There will be pop-up retail. There will be parties. There will be all kinds of things that people coming to downtown Indianapolis can experience as part of this."
During their trip out west, the Indianapolis group plans to meet with its Utah counterparts to better understand the workings of the NBA All-Star Weekend.
"Every city is unique, and each of us will have our own unique sets of challenges and opportunities," Lopez said. "But there is a tremendous amount that can be learned from the experiences of those games that came before ours."
For example, public transit, service days, retail, and arts and culture involvement are all on the table.
"We've obviously been building out our plan for several years now," Lopez said, "but now, as the host committee gets back to work, we have the chance to revisit our planning. This trip will really be educational for all of us."
The 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend will also put Indianapolis on the map across the world.
"For that weekend, we expect to have more than 1,800 members of the media here, many of them from all over the world," said Lopez. "That's because the game has grown so much internationally."
Plans show the game inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse will be broadcast in more than 250 countries, according to Lopez.
During their time in Salt Lake City, Indianapolis officials will be in good company, with Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton suiting up for Sunday's All-Star Game.
"It's going to be a busy weekend," said Lopez.