INDIANAPOLIS — Mayor Joe Hogsett is presenting his plan this week to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Development Commission to attract a Major League Soccer franchise to Indianapolis.
The mayor’s proposal includes building a new soccer stadium at a different site from the one planned for the Indy Eleven soccer team.
Ersal Ozdemir owns Keystone Group, one of the biggest real estate developers in Indiana. He also owns the Indy Eleven and brought the pro soccer team to the city about a dozen years ago.
Ozdemir's dream has always been to bring a Major League Soccer team to Indianapolis. He says the best and quickest way to do that is to move forward with a soccer stadium at Eleven Park.
"I'm excited the mayor actually wants to bring MLS because that's been our goal, saying that if we work to get the stadium, Indy Eleven needs a home regardless,” Ozdemir said. “Our stadium (is) designed for MLS. If we were to design a stadium built for MLS standards for Indy Eleven, if the opportunity arises, we told them we are going to pursue MLS after that. And when it does, you will be a city that already has a stadium in place.”
The more than $1 billion mixed-use development with retail and living space in towers is anchored by a 20,000-seat soccer stadium on the southwest corner of downtown, on Kentucky Avenue just south of Victory Field and just west of Lucas Oil Stadium.
But city tax revenue support for Eleven Park is in jeopardy with Hogsett's announcement to attract a Major League Soccer franchise playing in a stadium on Pearl Street on the southeast corner of downtown.
"We’ve put so much effort into this to bring it in,” Ozdemir said. “We've done everything that you're supposed to follow to do it right to get the team, invest in it privately, get legislation passed, buy land, get it designed, and obviously last-minute when something like that happens, you can imagine we were surprised and disappointed."
The mayor’s proposal before the Metropolitan Development Commission on Wednesday introduces an alternate tax district for soccer stadium funding, separate from the Eleven Park tax district resolution adopted by the commission in December.
Only one proposal will be eventually submitted to the State Budget Committee, which would kill the tax district for the other stadium site. The mayor’s office stresses that the alternate tax district would only go into effect if Indianapolis is chosen as the location for the next Major League Soccer expansion club.
But the Eleven Park site is cleared of the former Diamond Chain Company and ready for new construction to begin. The new stadium for the Indy Eleven is scheduled to open in April 2026. But the tax financing plan would appear to be on hold while Indy bids for an MLS team.
"I've hired architects nationally, spending tens of millions of dollars understanding that we have a deal to finalize,” Ozdemir said. “I'm here to say that I am excited about Eleven Park. I'm excited it's a riverfront transformation development. I'm a builder, I'm an engineer, so I want to do what I can to double down on downtown to make it a great place. I’m happy to get in the room with the mayor and try to figure out a way to get his vision and our vision at this site to get it accomplished for the sake of the great city."