Sports and Entertainment Venues Energize Indiana’s Economy

Source: Andrey Maximenko / Getty

INDIANAPOLIS — Sports are helping boost the economy in parts of Indiana, including Fishers, Noblesville, and Greenwood. Sports tourism has been an established industry for a while, according to Gerry Dick from Inside Indiana Business.

“Sports tourism is an industry and has been for a few years around the country,” Dick told WIBC’s Tony Katz. “Indiana continues to get more than its fair share. Just this weekend, the first weekend for the new sports park in Greenwood, which has been a long time coming.”

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Dick says the Greenwood park cost about $10 million to build and includes fields for baseball, softball, and cricket.

Concerts and other entertainment are big business in the state, opening up more venues, especially outside Indianapolis. Dick says lawmakers are using tax dollars to fund these venues, with the new arena in Fishers being a prime example.

“They created a sports taxing district to capture sales tax revenues,” he said. “I think a tax increment financing district in Greenwood is helping to pay for that as well.”

Dick says Indiana is well-positioned to avoid a recession because its manufacturing industry is in better shape than in some other Midwestern states.