Future of Eleven Park still in question as City-County Council considers Indy’s MLS prospects

INDIANAPOLIS — More uncertainty surrounds the future of Eleven Park and Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s counter proposal to build a Major League Soccer stadium.

A City-County Committee voted 6-4 on Tuesday night in favor of a proposal to create a new “professional sports development area” downtown. The proposal now heads to full council for a vote on Monday.

Tuesday night’s committee meeting was filled with very tense discussion surrounding Hogsett’s latest effort to bring an MLS soccer club to the Circle City. The meeting comes as the Indy Eleven continue to work on a new soccer stadium just a few miles away from the mayor’s newly proposed site.

Hogsett wants to offer the heliport near Gainbridge Fieldhouse as a potential site for an MLS stadium. The proposal would provide a special taxing district that could one day be used for that stadium.

“The city wants to have an MLS team,” City-County Council President Vop Osili said following Tuesday night’s decision. “This was the most clear, obstruction-free means of making that application.”

Much of the controversy stems from ongoing work already being done at the site of Eleven Park.

“A lot of people depend on the matches for their mental health and well-being, and they feel like that’s being ripped away from them,” Brickyard Battalion President David Ziemba said.

Dozens of Indy Eleven fans gathered at the committee meeting to share their support for the city’s minor league team.

“I’m kind of simple here, I’m a boots-on-the-ground soccer worker,” one Indy Eleven fan shared during public comment. “I just kind of wanted to give some perspective on the people being affected by a ‘pivot.’“

The developer of the Eleven Park site, Keystone Group, claims the city backed out of a “good-faith” deal surrounding Eleven Park.

“We didn’t have a deal pinned, but we certainly had some sort of deal where we had a groundbreaking and everyone has a smile and took a photograph and now we have something where all things have changed,” City-County Councilor Brian Mowery said Tuesday night after voting against the proposal.

Hogsett, however, denies those allegations. He previously told FOX59/CBS4 the complexities surrounding human remains at that site and issues of where and how to re-locate them played into his decision to push for a different site.

This was also a concern for a few people who spoke during the meeting’s public comment period.

“We don’t need a burial site being abused,” one man said.

”I don’t care if you build that stadium at the heliport or if you build it at Greenlawn Cemetery,” another man said. “But you need to move the people out.”

In the latest twist, just last week, the City of Indianapolis offered to purchase the nearly 20-acre Diamond Chain property from Keystone Group.

The mayor’s proposal now heads to the City-County Council for a vote in on Monday. Even if the council approves the downtown tax district, it would need final approval from the state to move forward.

The mayor’s office has previously stated it will not advance the PSDA for Eleven Park, even if the new proposal does not pass a final vote.

Mayor Joe Hogsett shared the following statement after Tuesday night’s committee decision:

Tonight, our community engaged in a robust conversation on the future of soccer in Indianapolis and emerged one step closer to pursuing the vision to bring a Major League Soccer expansion club to our city.

I want to thank the passionate residents who shared their perspectives tonight, as well as the members of the City-County Council’s Rules and Public Policy Committee for supporting Proposal 175 in a bipartisan way, showing that they believe in the potential to solidify our status as the greatest sports city in the country. As this process moves forward, I look forward to continuing the conversations with City-County Councilors, state leaders, and members of our community as we work together — in the Indianapolis way.

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett

Keystone Group also shared the following statement Tuesday night:

We are heartened by the compelling support Indy Eleven and Eleven Park received this evening and continues to receive. Tonight’s meeting showed a troubling lack of details from city officials as to the why and how of their decision making, and it is our hope that the full Council will stand up for their constituents and taxpayers and demand transparency as Indianapolis prepares to walk away from its commitments to near west side neighborhoods. 

Keystone Group spokesperson Alexandra Miller