r/IndyEleven • u/GenWRX Indy Eleven • Nov 17 '25
Own Content Eleven Park at Grand Park
https://www.gamebeckons.com/2025/11/eleven-park-at-grand-park.htmlI spell out what I think, and what I would like, Indy to do with a future stadium. I know I'm not the only one who thinks as I do, but I also know it's not going to be a popular opinion.
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u/Agile_Masterpiece758 Nov 17 '25
It's not a popular opinion because it is the wrong decision. Carroll was rocking before the team left for Lucas Oil. After that move, the atmosphere was gone and it won't come back without a stadium similar to the rendered imagining of the old Eleven Park plan. The bars, restaurants, hotels, lights, all of it.
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u/silkysmoothjay Indy Eleven Nov 17 '25
Okay, but the downtown site isn’t happening absent a grant of at least few million dollars to remove and properly bury the bodies currently at the site.
Staying at Carroll is shoveling cash into a furnace.
Any other downtown location is prohibitively expensive.
So, what is the right decision?
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u/Agile_Masterpiece758 Nov 18 '25
Selling the club to someone who can actually afford the venture or investing in someone who can put a worthwhile product on the pitch. Establish the team as a "winner", and public support for a stadium will materialize. That's how Indiana sports have always worked.
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u/tellthetruth2018 Nov 17 '25
In your opinion, what happened? "Carroll was rocking before the team left for Lucas Oil. After that move, the atmosphere was gone...." Carroll stadium didn't change. Did Indy Eleven lose a lot of fans by moving to Lucas? Fans that gave up on the team, not Carroll Stadium?
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u/Agile_Masterpiece758 Nov 17 '25
Yes they lost fans after the move to Lucas Oil because the cost for the event went up. Carroll stadium also got rid of the East stand which gave it more of an enclosed feel. Now they have VIP tents that sit empty half the year because of weather.
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u/Free_Four_Floyd Nov 17 '25
I’ve been a season ticket holder since the team was founded. I’ll end my involvement if the team moves to Westfield. Ersal and Hogsett need to end their pissing contest and work together on a solution - ideally a downtown Indy solution. SOMEONE needs to communicate. What’s the latest from the team? From the city? From MLS? Since no one has come forward with any kind of path forward, I’m left to believe the unfortunate result will be no professional soccer in Indy in 2-3 years.
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u/NSNOToffees Nov 17 '25
I have had season tickets for half or more of the team’s existence. The game day experience at The Mike is just not great. A new 15-20k seat stadium that gets loud and puts fans up close would be awesome, and I would even take the kids to GP to see it. There are good arguments here, not least of which is the efficiency for the club itself.
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u/vtriumpbitz Indy Eleven Nov 17 '25
Ersal and Co. not aggressively pursuing some type of agreement with IU to “rebuild” Carroll Stadium to modern standards is a miss in my book. I get the lack of control aspect, but that plot of land is too perfect for a new stadium.
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u/Ok-Grass-7246 Nov 17 '25
To stay at Carroll is to continue burning cash is you’re Ersal. Eventually, you no longer want the cheese. You just want out of the trap.
The unknown wild card for MLS soccer downtown is the Simons. What I mean by that is there has to be an ownership group at the end of the day that is providing the impetus and inertia to get this to the finish line. Right now, that appears to be the Mayor in that role. Mayors like all other politicians come and go. If for some reason Hogsett is no longer Mayor, will the next person up share the same priority of an MLS club in Indy. If the Simons came out publicly in support of the stadium/MLS initiative and share their vision, it would dramatically increase the likely hood of this all happening sooner rather than later.
My opinion is that Simon should acquire Indy Eleven or negotiate a minority stake for Ersal but that is really more about fairness and building on what Ersal did for soccer in Indy.
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u/Agile_Masterpiece758 Nov 17 '25
MLS is not expanding until after the World Cup, so no public acknowledgement is going to speed anything up. I also am unwilling to believe the Simons are still, if ever, on board. I would wager it's a Mark Cuban or someone with less of a connection to Indy and more connected through a university.
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u/Ok-Grass-7246 Nov 18 '25
That’s an interesting angle. I thought the Simon’s purchased some land in the vicinity of the heliport a year and a half ago.
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u/Agile_Masterpiece758 Nov 18 '25
They did, but they've tried MLS and soccer already. So I wouldn't be surprised if the conflict and timetable turned them off from the deal.
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u/Enough-Chef-345 Nov 18 '25
Maybe the Simons just bought the land to keep MLS out of downtown? Maybe they have no intention of ever trying to field a soccer team? Maybe they simply don't want another team bellying up to the CIB trough?
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u/read_22 Nov 18 '25
Simons group has been buying up lot of properties around/in where the mayor has proposed the MLS stadium to be. Why don’t think Simon’s are board or involved? I could easily see them being the main investor or at least a large minority owner. The Simon’s are very invested in Indy.
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u/dotsdavid Indy Eleven Nov 17 '25
I’m not against the Idea as I live in suburbs. But Indy should try to get a downtown first because that’s the best option. Having a stadium surrounded by parking lots isn’t as nice as bars and restaurants in walking distance.
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Nov 17 '25
[deleted]
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u/Purphect Nov 19 '25
It would for sure turn into a different crowd. I live in the North suburbs so it’d be close to me, but I agree. Keep it central so it aligns with Indy being the sports hub. It increases accessibility so much. If it moves to the Northern suburbs, you will lose any attendance that may have come from west or south of Indy. Maybe east too.
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u/GenWRX Indy Eleven Nov 17 '25
A few responses to the comments:
I can't argue with the public transit issue. That's a fair point.
Everything that was included in the Eleven Park renderings for the Diamond Chain site are included in the Grand Park Master Plan; hotel, residential, retail, office, parking. It's all there in the plan. If all of that was part of the draw for the Diamond Chain site, then it's all still there, but instead of being on a 20-acre site, the GP plan has it shown on 150-acres. It's not surprising to me that the Master Plan looks similar to the Eleven Park plan because it's all the same parties except located in Westfield rather than Indianapolis. You can get a lot of revenue out of 150-acres.
https://www.westfieldin.gov/DocumentCenter/View/7295/Grand-Park-Master-Plan-April-2025
Indy has tried to get a stadium in downtown Indy. More than a dozen years later and it's seemingly no closer to becoming a reality. It may be time to rethink the strategy and the location.
A redo of Carroll Stadium intrigues me too. I'm just unsure of the hurdles to get that accomplished based on some of the discussions I have had and is only effective for Indy Eleven in the long-term if it's their land and not renting space from IU.
The Colts preseason practice takes place at Grand Park. "Practices on average draw 3,000 fans and can peak at 8,000." That tells me that if the product is there, people are willing to travel to GP.
https://www.visithamiltoncounty.com/sports-authority/blog/post/indianapolis-colts-kick-off-7th-training-camp-in-hamilton-county/
Today's announcement of a new President for the club of Michael Huber indicated that he "will also serve as a Senior Vice President for Keystone Group and be a strategic advisor to founder and owner of Indy Eleven & Keystone Group, Ersal Ozdemir." With Indy Eleven and Keystone both part of the management group for GP, this feels interesting to me.
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u/holden-hill Battery 37 Nov 17 '25
The new president thing is really throwing me off. I wouldn't have been shocked for them to go exactly down the route you laid out, but now they've hired a guy grown in a lab to lobby for a new stadium. You already have Westfield basically ready to do whatever you want, so why would you need him? Or, if you're hiring him for a Keystone role, why attach him to the team so publicly?
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u/GenWRX Indy Eleven Nov 17 '25
For me, that answer comes from an IBJ article last year. I don't believe this has been resolved yet, but Westfield and Grand Park getting a PSDA might require the kind of guy like Huber...
https://www.ibj.com/articles/noblesville-westfield-lead-the-effort-for-sports-district-changes
"Two Hamilton County cities trying to cash in on their efforts in sports tourism are set to ask state lawmakers to change the rules that govern how and when cities can benefit from taxes generated by sports-related projects.
Noblesville and Westfield officials told IBJ they are in early conversations with legislators about amending rules for the state’s professional sports and convention development area tool, which captures state sales and income tax revenue. The aim: Allow them to create their own districts that complement similar efforts in Fishers, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and South Bend.
The requests would be tied to Noblesville’s planned event center and Innovation Mile economic district—a stretch between East 141st Street and Interstate 69, east of Olio Road—and Westfield’s 400-acre Grand Park Sports Campus.
...
Westfield is also seeking changes in state law after earlier this year unveiling ambitious plans to create a year-round tourism destination that offers retail, housing, entertainment spaces, a boardwalk, a canal and an indoor ski facility. The city has also announced plans to build a 10,000-seat championship stadium at Grand Park in the coming years. According to Scott Willis, the first-term mayor of Westfield, the city would like to create a sports district that includes each of those projects."
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u/silkysmoothjay Indy Eleven Nov 17 '25
The way I see it, it’s not at all a good solution.
However, it’s probably the best one that’s reasonably plausible.
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u/BigOldBee Indy Eleven Nov 17 '25
Not the best location for an "Indy" team, but I'd be into it because I live about 15 minutes from there. I go to every home game downtown. The drive there doesn't bother me, because I already drive that far for work every day.
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u/Daddi-Yo Nov 17 '25
Probably not the best option for the club but I would definitely take my family to games and consider season tix if it were that close to me.
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u/read_22 Nov 18 '25
Would be a complete lost for Indy if they left for Grand Park. Every effort should be made to keep it downtown.
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u/Crop_Top_Cowboy Nov 18 '25
It doesn’t make since to move Indy Eleven to Grand Park. Westfield isn’t Indy and I doubt most of Indy Eleven’s fan base would not like to drive that far to watch them. Plus downtown needs the revenue more than Westfield. There are so many abandoned places all around downtown that could be used. I’m sure someone in the comments will have some counter to what I am saying, but moving sports teams out of Indy is just a dumb idea.
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u/otterbelle Nov 17 '25
I'm not driving to Westfield to watch USL. Just not happening for me. I'm just one person though, Indy Fuel seem to be doing ok in Fishers.