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Briggs: Indy is killing Eleven Park so its MLS dream can live

james briggs, indianapolis star
·3 min read
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It turns out Mayor Joe Hogsett isn't alone.

Hogsett appears to have broad support for his effort to lure a Major League Soccer team to Indianapolis. It wasn't obvious at first. But, since Hogsett made his surprising announcement April 25, MLS Commissioner Don Garber beamed about a "great meeting" with Sen. Todd Young in Washington, D.C.; Gov. Eric Holcomb assured "there is a lot of excitement in the General Assembly"; and the Metropolitan Development Commission took the first step toward approving a stadium plan at a previously undiscussed downtown site.

The MLS-to-Indianapolis campaign is legit. It's also moving at lightning speed, in large part because the city already has funding levers in place to pay for a new stadium — thanks, of course, to the Indy Eleven owner who is getting thrown under his own bus.

Eleven Park is dead

Indy Eleven is still advocating to proceed with its plan to build a stadium-anchored development called Eleven Park at the site of the former Diamond Chain Co. near the White River. But that project is dead no matter what happens with the city's new MLS push.

The city bristled over developer Keystone Group's request for a deal that would include city-backed bonds, which Adam Wren reported in Importantville. That's similar to the deal Republican gubernatorial candidate Brad Chambers received to build CityWay, a mixed-use project that has missed deadlines to repay debt to the city, per IndyStar and Mirror Indy. On top of that, the Eleven Park site is a literal cemetery.

Construction started on Eleven Park, a proposed soccer stadium on the site of the former Diamond Chain Co. building and Greenlawn Cemetery, shown in a Dec. 28 file photo. The Green Lawn Cemetery was founded in 1821 and closed in 1890. What remains were left behind, and could be located, including pioneers, and Civil War soldiers, were moved to the newly founded Crown Hill Cemetery. The Diamond Chain Company was built in its place in 1918, and is in the process of demolition in 2023.

Ersal Ozdemir owns both Indy Eleven and Keystone Group. Ozdemir and the city are arguing through the media over Keystone Group's financial capacity, as the Indianapolis Business Journal reports in painstaking detail. But there's an even simpler reason than financials for why Eleven Park is dead: Hogsett decided he doesn't want it anymore.

As mayor, Hogsett has sole discretion to kill the project. He has.

Some City-County Council members are complaining about Hogsett's unilateral approach and are standing by Ozdemir. But the council will most likely support the mayor's plan this month because the Democratic majority is not going to want to take responsibility for being the reason MLS passed on Indianapolis.

Ersal Ozdemir has to decide how this ends

That's what this is about. There are two sides: People who want MLS in Indianapolis and those fighting against it.

Ozdemir has to decide which side he's on and how long he wants to pretend there's a path forward for Eleven Park.

Some have compared Ozdemir's push for a 20,000-seat soccer stadium to Indianapolis' 1980s decision to build an NFL stadium without a team. The two situations are not quite analogous. As I wrote before, Ozdemir has tried and failed to land an MLS team. He's rich, but he isn't rich enough to meet MLS expansion costs approaching $1 billion, without even factoring in the stadium.

MLS already told Ozdemir no. There's no reason to think the answer is going to change.

At least, not for him.

That's why Hogsett is working with an unidentified group of investors with deeper pockets. It's unfair in many ways that the mayor and his mystery team can nudge Ozdemir out of the way and benefit from his life's work. But, fair or not, MLS has implicitly blessed Hogsett's decision to move ahead without Ozdemir.

The city can't sacrifice its chance to bring another major league sports franchise to town in order to protect the feelings of one rich guy and a few thousand Indy Eleven fans.

Ozdemir can't control the way this went down. He can only decide whether he responds by torching bridges or gracefully accepting reality. The city has incentives to shower Ozdemir with consolation prizes, if he'll accept them, and there's likely a chance to perpetuate the Indy Eleven name and legacy through an MLS expansion team. Ozdemir can still take a face-saving off ramp.

He just can't get Eleven Park back.

Contact James Briggs at 317-444-4732 or james.briggs@indystar.com. Follow him on X and Threads at @JamesEBriggs.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis' MLS bid is stronger without Indy Eleven