Capital Improvement Board Bailout Plan Includes Pacers, Colts

Colts Currently Pay Nothing For Stadium But  New Plan Calls For $5M Annually From Team

Indiana State Sen. Luke Kenley today at a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee will seek to insert into legislation a plan to "bail out the financially struggling" Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board (CIB), which manages Conseco Fieldhouse and Lucas Oil Stadium, according to a front-page piece by Schneider & O'Shaughnessy of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR. The plan was "quietly negotiated in talks with the CIB, Pacers and Colts that began in January," and calls for the Colts and Pacers to contribute $5M annually to "help close the projected $47[M] deficit at the CIB." The $5M payment would be a $10M "break for the Pacers, because the deal assumes the CIB will take over the $15[M] annual expense of operating Conseco Fieldhouse." The Colts currently "pay nothing to use Lucas Oil Stadium." Also under the plan, alcohol taxes "would double statewide, and out-of-town visitors to Marion County would be asked to pay the highest hotel taxes in the nation," and arena costs including tickets, food and drinks "will cost more." Kenley said that the plan will "boost economic development statewide, as all of the alcohol tax increase will be given to cities and towns with the exception of Marion County" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 4/2).

HELPING HAND: The AP's Ryan Foley reported the Wisconsin Building Commission yesterday voted 7-1 to "provide tax support to the Bradley Center." The proposal, which still needs approval from the state Legislature, would provide the arena $500,000 per year for the next 10 years "for maintenance projects." The financial assistance would mark the "longest-term commitment by taxpayers to a non-state building in Wisconsin history," and also would mark the "first time the Bradley Center would receive tax money since opening" in '88 (AP, 4/1).