Pacers, city soon head to negotiating table - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

The Indiana Pacers have been doing better on the court, but the team says it is still struggling to keep up with the cost of running Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

This year, the Pacers made it to the second round of the NBA playoffs, but the team is still struggling to make money.

The Pacers and the city's Capitol Improvement Board, which oversees the city's sports venues, will soon begin meeting to once again discuss the team's long-term contract and its future in Indianapolis.

Greg Schenkel, the Pacers Vice President of Corporate and Public Relations said the Pacers are committed to staying.

"Long-term is the goal for everyone," he said.

In 2010, with the Pacers predicting a $30 million loss, they asked the city to pick up the tab for running the Fieldhouse. (The contract signed in 1999 said the team was responsible for cover operating expenses.)

At the time, Pacers President Jim Morris stressed the city subsidy was for "essentially utilities, insurance, waste removal, security, that sort of thing. Not a penny will go to the Pacers or the Fever. It's to help with operating the building."

After much negotiation, the city agreed to pay the Pacers $33.5 million over three years to cover operations and improvements to the Fieldhouse, which included a ribbon board for advertising and messages. That agreement (a supplement to the current contract, which expires in 2019) ends next June.

While Schenkel said, "our revenues were better this year, so we're trending in the right direction," he indicated team is still losing money and will likely need continued help from the city to run the Fieldhouse.

"This is a hard thing all the way around, because there are economic challenges on both sides," Butler professor of marketing Dan McQuiston said.

But McQuiston said having a good team this time around helps the Pacers.

"It starts to give them more negotiating power. I wouldn't say it gives them the upper hand, but I think they can bring more to the table," he said.

A winning team also makes any deal an easier sell for the city.

"The Pacers are in a good position," McQuiston said. "They've worked their way back into the mindset of sports-minded people here."

Still CIB President Ann Lathrop said, "We don't make these deals based on a season. We have to look at the long-term impact on the city from an economic development perspective."

While Lathrop said they have no hard deadline, they do hope to begin talks soon. She also said any new appropriations probably won't be included in the new CIB budget, which must be submitted to the City-County Council by the end of August.

"We do have the authority and ability to go back to the council later and ask for additional appropriations after the calendar year starts, so the question is, do we want to estimate what we think might actually happen or do we want to wait until we might actually know?" Lathrop noted.

The CIB budget and any additional appropriations must be approved by the council. In 2010, the Republicans were in control; now the Democrats are.

"If the Pacers came with their hand out - would we automatically fill it? No," said Democratic Councilor Brian Mahern.

Mahern said this time they'll press for more details, more information before signing off on any new deal.

"If a team is coming forth to the city saying they need this money, we need to have a good public understanding that that is in fact the case," he said.

Word is both sides would like to see a deal in place by year's end. The question is: Will it be another short-term agreement that addresses the operating costs of the Fieldhouse or will they renegotiate and extend the long-term lease which runs through 2019?

The answer should come in the next few months.