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A plan to fund a soccer stadium for the Indy Eleven took shape in legislation Tuesday with a proposal that could capture up to $11 million annually in tax revenue to pay off the bonds for the $150 million outdoor arena.
Senate Bill 543, authored by Sen. Jack Sandlin, R-Indianapolis, would create a new Professional Sports Development Area on an unspecified plot where developer Ersal Ozdemir—who owns the Indy Eleven—plans a $550 million, mixed-use project called Eleven Park. The residential and commercial parts of the project would be privately funded, but the bill would establish at least part of the public financing for the included stadium.
Introduced Tuesday, the legislation—which has been sent to the Senate Appropriations Committee for consideration—would create a sports development area to encompass the larger Eleven Park development and would be in place for at least the next three decades.
The PSDA could capture up to $11 million in tax revenue per year for 32 years—money that would be paid by the businesses, residents and even athletes living or working at Eleven Park. That revenue would be diverted to the Capital Improvement Board—which would own the 20,000-seat stadium, but not the private development surrounding it—for the purpose of paying for the public infrastructure.
Initially, the stadium and the rest of the public development (including a plaza and underground parking garages) would be paid for using city-issued, developer backed bonds, with any funding gaps in financing covered by Indy Eleven’s ownership group.
Indy Eleven owner Ersal Ozdemir dropped by the WIBC studios Thursday to make his case for the stadium. Speaking to host Tony Katz, Ozdemir indicated that any risk and initial expenses would be borne by the private sector:
“We are looking at areas that are currently generating no tax revenue period. We would develop this small mixed use village that would create over 1,500 permanent jobs. Not one city or state appropriations. Let us invest and privately finance and develop this village. And then the taxes that it is going to generate would be used to fund the publicly-owned stadium. Let the team lease the venue and pay for 100{e7d922e47e34c22374416105a5e46a14ff533ce17ed8ca0dee5410286f8ee502} of the operating expenses so that we’re shifting the rest of the expenses to the private developer and team ownership.”
Click the link below to hear Tony’s full interview with Mr. Ozdemir:
