The Senate has overwhelmingly approved a 20-million-dollar renovation of IUPUI‘s Carroll Stadium for the Indy Eleven soccer team.
Sen. Pete Miller (R-Avon) says the state has a chance to get ahead of the curve as soccer gains in popularity in the US.
The Senate scaled back a House-passed plan to use a tax-recapture mechanism to help the team build a brand-new 80-million-dollar stadium.
Sen. Jean Breaux (D-Indianapolis) says renovating Carroll Stadium is a much better plan.
“I do like making a state facility, improving an existing state facility that I think will be more than adequate to accomplish the goal of bringing soccer and expanding it here in our state,” Breaux says.
Miller says by using Carroll Stadium instead, the state gets a double benefit by revitalizing an existing state asset which would otherwise be nearing the end of its life span.
House Ways and Means Chairman Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville) says a key question will be whether the campus location just north of downtown is suitable for the kind of multipurpose stadium supporters envision.
“If you want to use it as a multipurpose facility, is that the appropriate location or not? So, I think that’s one of the deciding factors. Are we going to be able to host NCAA division two and division three football championships?” Brown says.
Brown says he‘ll have to consult with Rep. Todd Huston (R-Fishers), the author of the original bill, on whether to accept the scaled-down plan or seek further negotiations.