Gahl: ‘We’re ecstatic’ over All-Star Weekend in Indy
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowVisit Indy Executive Vice President Chris Gahl says all signs point to positive reactions to Indianapolis hosting the 2024 NBA All-Star Game and the festivities surrounding it.
An estimated 190,000 visitors descended upon downtown Indy, which the Indiana Pacers said was the largest attendance for All-Star Weekend in 14 years.
“When we look at all the social media chatter and traditional media chatter about the host city indie, it’s all positive, even with the snow flurries,” Gahl said. “When we talk to visitors and do intercepts studies with them on how we did and how they felt their time was here in Indianapolis: positive.”
The NBA says viewership for the All-Star Game was up 20% over 2023, with 11.6 million unique viewers across all platforms. The All-Star Celebrity Game was the most watched in six years, with an average audience of 1.565 million viewers, up 12% from last year.
Those numbers, Gahl said, will ultimately provide a longer-term impact for Indianapolis.
“We win economically by hosting this game. We win by marketing media exposure with all eyes on Indianapolis,” he said. “With those 1,800 credentialed media and the viewership across traditional media and online platforms up double digits, that means that people were thinking about Indianapolis wherever they were sitting worldwide. And that inevitably helps us market and position Indy as a host city.”
Prior to the festivities beginning, the event was expected to generate an estimated $320 million in economic impact for the city, though the final numbers have not been released.
“One of the lead indicators is hotel occupancy and what each hotel room could go for and sell for. And so in the coming week, we’ll be anxious to see just how occupied not only downtown Marion County, but the entire metropolitan statistical area was for the weekend,” Gahl said.
Meanwhile, NBA Senior Vice President and Head of Global Events Joey Graziano told our partners at the IBJ he is hopeful that the All-Star festivities could serve as a launching pad for future collaborations between the league and the city.
“I’m incredibly bullish on Indianapolis and incredibly excited for the future of NBA All-Star as one of our events [here],” he said. “But across our event portfolio, there are going to be opportunities for us to continue to work together with the great city of Indianapolis.”
Now, Indianapolis officials are looking to the NFL Combine, which runs Thursday through Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium. Gahl says it’s another opportunity to showcase how Indy can run big events.
“There’s no other city in the world can say they’ve hosted an NBA premier event and an NFL premier event within a week of each other,” he said. “So as soon as all the NBA decor came down is as soon as the NFL is moving into the convention center and Lucas Oil Stadium and all of our connected hotels. How fortunate we are as a community to have these two premier brands entrusting Indianapolis with two premier events?”
Last month, Indianapolis secured the NFL Combine through at least 2025, and Gahl said Indy is leading the charge to enhance the fan experience of the event, but is also focused on retaining the event in future years.
“When we’re in front of them, when we’re talking and meeting with them, [we’re asking] ‘What can we be doing to make sure that past 2025, the event doesn’t move?’ And so that’s our our number one priority.”