Hogsett’s plan to win MLS franchise faces city-level legislative hurdles
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Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s ambitious plan to court a Major League Soccer franchise could be contingent on City-County Council action to help fund a stadium on downtown’s east side, but it’s not clear yet whether there’s enough support or time to get the work done by a key June deadline.
The council’s Republican leader has already expressed concern about the mayor’s plan, as has one Democratic councilor. But Council President Vop Osili, a Democrat, had not yet weighed in publicly by 1 p.m. Friday. A spokesperson for Osili said he planned to send IBJ a statement later Friday.
The mayor announced Thursday the city is working with unnamed investors to secure an MLS team and is taking steps to create a professional sports development area—a zone authorized by state law to capture tax revenue that would otherwise would go to the city and state—at a site near the downtown heliport at 355 E. Pearl St. The money could be used to pay off bonds for a soccer stadium.
Already, the City-County Council has approved a PSDA to build a soccer stadium at the former Diamond Chain manufacturing site—a zone that was meant to fund a stadium for the Indy Eleven soccer team, which plays in a second-tier soccer league. But Hogsett said Thursday that the city is no longer supporting that effort.
He added, however, that the Diamond Chain site and the associated PSDA remains an option for an MLS franchise, although he didn’t explain how. The Diamond Chain site is owned by Keystone Group, which is owned owned by Ersal Ozdemir, the majority owner of the Indy Eleven soccer team and the individual with which the city is no longer negotiating.
Following Hogsett’s announcement, at least a few Indianapolis councilors expressed apprehension about abandoning a soccer stadium already in the works to pursue the mayor’s proposal to try to land an MLS franchise.
“I want to be sure that Indianapolis is seen as a city that always operates and negotiates transparently and in good faith,” said the council’s Republican leader, Brian Mowery. “We hope to learn more from the administration and stakeholders as my caucus and I work with council Democrats to do what is in the best interest for Marion County as a whole.”
Democrats control the council.
As part of the PSDA process, the Department of Metropolitan Development on Wednesday submitted a new map to the Metropolitan Development Commission that will be considered by the commission next Wednesday at 1 p.m. in the City-County Building Public Assembly Room.
That map, which was made public Friday, will capture several nearby areas prime for redevelopment and city projects—a feature that city officials said make it a viable option. Under state law, the PSDA can incorporate properties up to one mile around the stadium site.
If the proposal is approved by the eight-member board, it will move on to the Indianapolis City-County Council. There, it would be eligible for a first reading as early as May 13, the first full City-County Council meeting of the month due to the primary election.
The proposal would likely be referred to the Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee, which meets May 20. Council committees are usually where developers—or in this case, likely Hogsett administration officials—give in-depth presentations on proposals. The committee may also take public comment.
That committee is chaired by Council Majority Leader Maggie Lewis. Lewis did not respond to an IBJ request for comment on the proposal.
Mowery and other councilors, though, have expressed concerns about the perceived abandonment of Ozdemir’s proposal to develop Eleven Park. Ozdemir announced last year that Keystone would invest up to $1.5 billion to develop district anchored by the soccer stadium, which the city would own, that included apartments, retail, a hotel and office space.
The mayor’s move would effectively quash the 11-year-old Indy Eleven’s hopes of going after an MLS designation of its own, something Ozdemir has long said he wanted. It also raises questions about whether any part of his planned Eleven Park—which was expected to inject energy into the southwest side of downtown—would be developed at all. Keystone held a ceremonial ground breaking at the site last year that Hogsett attended and has been clearing and preparing the former manufacturing site for construction since.
The City-County Council approved the first PSDA for Eleven Park in December, with downtown councilors Osili and Kristin Jones, a Democrat, also attending the groundbreaking ceremony last May.
In a statement Thursday, Jones called the day of the groundbreaking ceremony a “dream come true” after a decade of “investment, advocacy and public input” and expressed disappointment that it might not come to fruition.
“Today, while on the one hand, I am pleased that Indianapolis remains a strong market for professional sports, I am disappointed that the decision was made to disregard the hard work, investment, and legislation that my council colleagues and state legislators, had already passed in a bi-partisan manner for the former Diamond Chain site on the river,” Jones wrote. “I am hopeful that the original approved site will continue to be utilized for any soccer-specific stadium.”
City officials said Thursday that negotiations with Keystone faltered after they determined there was a “substantial gap”—they declined to share a specific figure—in tax revenue that would be generated by the proposed district to support the stadium.
Mowery criticized the city’s decision to stop negotiating with Keystone Group, saying the Hogsett administration never informed the caucus that the future of Eleven Park was in jeopardy.
Indianapolis’ 25-member legislative body has a Democratic supermajority, meaning that the 19 Democrats could do business without the six Republicans present.
A spokesperson from the Mayor’s Office told IBJ in a statement that Hogsett administration representatives had discussions with council leadership and individual councilors leading up to the announcement that the city would pursue a Major League Soccer expansion club “and the importance of creating an alternative PSDA site option.”
“We look forward to continuing our conversations with councilors on this exciting opportunity to bring the major league of the world’s game to Indianapolis,” the statement said.
If it’s approved by the City-County Council, the new PSDA proposal would return to the MDC for a final certification. That and a feasibility study of the district must then be turned over to the State Budget Committee. Under the 2019 legislation that created the PSDA’s framework, the city must have its legislative approvals done by June 30.
Hogsett administration officials will work over that period with the ownership group—which Hogsett wouldn’t name—to determine which site to submit to the State Budget Committee. The state law only allows for one PSDA for the future soccer stadium.