Indy Eleven add businessman Chuck Surack to bolster MLS fight with city
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Wealthy Fort Wayne businessman Chuck Surack has joined the Indy Eleven soccer team as a co-owner and financier amid a fight between franchise leaders and city officials to secure a Major League Soccer club for Indianapolis.
Surack, who sold a controlling stake of his $1.6 billion company Sweetwater Sound in 2021, joins Indy Eleven majority owner Ersal Ozdemir and eight other wealthy individuals and families in funding the United Soccer League Championship team as part of its efforts to develop the $1.5 billion Eleven Park project and move to MLS.
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said on April 25 that the city planned to pursue a bid for the league, but would do so not with the Eleven’s ownership group, but a new set of investors who have not been identified. Longtime soccer executive Tom Glick is leading that effort on the city’s behalf.
Surack’s addition is set to bolster a group of investors that already includes the Ricker and Traylor families, Jeff Laborsky of The Heritage Group and Fred Merritt with LFM Investments, among others. He is also being touted by the club as the first “billionaire” to join the team’s ownership ranks, although his net worth wasn’t revealed.
Financial terms of Surack’s involvement were not disclosed.
“Chuck Surack has changed our state for the better by consistently identifying opportunities for growth and investing his tireless energy into seizing those moments,” Ozdemir, founder and owner of Keystone Group and Indy Eleven, said in written remarks. “That is why we are thrilled by his personal commitment to the growth of professional soccer through the Indy Eleven and to the vision of Eleven Park as a neighborhood investment.”
In addition to owning a portion of the team—the exact amount was not made public—he will also be an investor in the Eleven Park project and is expected to provide access to billions in capital for that development and other future projects.
Surack founded and led Sweetwater for more than three decades before selling a portion of the company to a private equity firm in 2021. He continues to serve as its chairman.
Surack, who also owns Fort Wayne-based Sweet Helicopters, told IBJ last week that he was opposed to the city’s effort to attract an MLS team on its own—in particular, its plan to close the heliport in hopes of using the land for its stadium project.
He also said he was frustrated by what he sees as unfair dealings with Keystone Group.
“I’d like to think that, when you’re dealing with politicians, their word you can count on,” Surack said of the city’s approach. “And at least from everything I’m seeing, it looks pretty political right now and not real honest.”
Surack owns a 10-story building directly east of the heliport, which he acquired in 2022 as a “strategic move” in hopes of stopping the city from decommissioning the heliport for other redevelopment opportunities.
He said in written comments that joining ownership of the Indy Eleven and Eleven Park offers an “unprecedented opportunity for downtown Indianapolis to finally embrace the kind of riverfront development that is transforming Fort Wayne and other cities across the country.
“As a proud Hoosier, I am committed to investing my resources to support Indiana’s growth with like-minded people who have our state’s best interests at heart,” he said.
The Salin and Hageman families, Don Gottwald and Brian Bauer also own a stake in the Indy Eleven and Eleven Park.
This story will be updated.