INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -A new study has concluded that Indianapolis businesses would lose $55 million if the Indiana Pacers left town.
Hunden Strategic Partners conducted the research for the Marion County Capital Improvement Board, which shared the findings Monday.
The CIB owns Conseco Fieldhouse, where the Pacers play home games. The Pacers have been paying $15 million per year in operating costs. The team is approaching an option period in the lease, and the CIB says the team has suggested the current terms must change for the Pacers to be competitive.
CIB president Ann Lathrop said the sides haven’t come to an agreement, but they are discussing a deal in which the CIB would pay the operating costs and still let the Pacers play there.
“I think that is the primary basis of a lot of our discussions right now,” Lathrop said.
ached. Team president Larry Bird has said he has received calls from people who want to move the team.
The Pacers have said they’d like to have a deal in place by June 30. Lathrop said she’s not in a hurry.
“I think all of us would like to, if there’s going to be an agreement, have something within reason, but we’re also making sure that whatever is done is done right, and not by rushing,” she said.
Lathrop didn’t say how the CIB would come up with the $15 million.
Team owner Herb Simon has always maintained that he wants the team to remain in Indiana.
Attendance dropped after the Pacers traded away their core players in the aftermath of the brawl between Pacers players and Pistons fans in 2004, and fell further after Indiana’s players had numerous brushes with the law in the following few years.
The Pacers, who already were losing money when they were successful, took a bigger hit when the new players couldn’t measure up. Indiana finished with a 32-50 record this past season, their worst record since 1988-89, and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year. The Pacers ranked 27th in the 30-team league this season with average attendance of 14,202. League leader Chicago averaged 20,725.
The possibility of the Pacers leaving has been a real part of the discussions.
“I think the Pacers have been really open about the significant losses they’ve been having,” Lathrop said. “At some point, everybody has a breaking point. Ideally, you wouldn’t want to get to that point.”
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