Indianapolis city officials yesterday said that taxpayers "won’t foot the bill" for any of a new $50M practice facility being planned by the Pacers, according to a front-page piece by John Tuohy of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR. The city's Capital Improvement Board "unanimously approved a resolution to negotiate a new practice home for the Pacers" after Pacers Sports & Entertainment "formally proposed building the gym, office and tenant space." CIB President Earl Goode said that the Pacers, "not the CIB, would pay for the construction and operations of the new training complex." The 130,000-square-foot practice facility "would be at the site of an 'elevated' 2nd story parking lot for employees." PS&E Senior VP/Corporate, Community & PR Bill Benner said that the team tomorrow "would provide more detail at a news conference." He added that the new practice home is "needed for the Pacers to stay competitive." Benner said that the new site "would allow the team to have more events at the old practice court but the new building would be used primarily for basketball." The Pacers would "continue to pay the CIB $1 a year rent for the building site and the deal would be for 40 years with a 10-year option to renew" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 8/25). In Indianapolis, Anthony Schoettle noted the first three floors "would be used for a practice court, offices for basketball operations and parking facilities." The fourth floor "would be used as offices by PS&E, and the fifth floor would be leased to a separate tenant." The "existing practice gym" at Bankers Life Fieldhouse would be used by the WNBA Fever (IBJ.com, 8/24).
