Lucas Oil Stadium

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Lucas Oil Stadium

Location	Indianapolis, Indiana
Broke ground	September 20, 2005
Opened	2008 (scheduled)
Owner	Capital Improvement Board
Operator	Marion County
Surface	FieldTurf
Construction cost	$500 million
Architect	HKS, Inc.
Former names
Indiana Stadium
Tenants
Indianapolis Colts (NFL)
Capacity
63,000 - 75,000 (estimated, depending on configuration)

Lucas Oil Stadium is a retractable roof sports facility currently under construction in Indianapolis. The stadium is scheduled to open in 2008, replacing the RCA Dome (completed 1983) as the home field of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts. Afterward, the RCA Dome will be demolished.

On February 28, 2006, it was announced that Lucas Oil had purchased the naming rights for $120 million over 20 years. The facility had previously been referred to as Indiana Stadium.

Once complete, work will begin on expanding the current Convention Center. In order to expand the Convention Center, the Indiana Stadium and Convention Building Authority will demolish the RCA Dome and will proceed to finance, design, construct and own an expansion to the Indiana Convention Center, which will be located on the current site of the RCA Dome. The Authority anticipates that the Convention Center Expansion will be complete by 2010 and, once complete, it will also be leased to and operated by the Capital Improvement Board.

[edit] Planned Events

In addition to professional football games (and, possibly, collegiate and high school games), the stadium is scheduled to host the semifinal and final rounds of the Men's Final Four in 2010, with the Women's Final Four one year later. Historically, Indianapolis has been a popular choice for the Final Four, as the NCAA makes their headquarters there, and the events come on a five-year rotation. The city also hopes to attract the Super Bowl, and has put in a bid to host Super Bowl XLV in 2011.[1]

Other probable non-sporting events include the Bands of America Grand National Championships and the Indiana Marching Band State Finals, both major events for the city in Marching Band competitions.

Drum Corps International announced on August 8, 2006 that their corporate offices are moving to Indianapolis and the DCI World Championships will be the inaugural event for the stadium. The World Championships will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium every year at least through 2018.^[1]

[edit] Cost

Groundbreaking for the stadium took place on September 20, 2005. The anticipated stadium project cost is approximately $675 million. The estimate includes $500 million for actual construction, $125 million in "soft" costs and $50 million in contingencies. The stadium is being financed with funds raised by the State of Indiana and the City of Indianapolis, with the Indianapolis Colts providing $100 million. Marion County has raised taxes for food and beverage sales, auto excise taxes, innkeeper's taxes and admission taxes for its share of the costs. Meanwhile, a small increase in food and beverage taxes in the eight surrounding doughnut counties and the sale of Colts license plates completes the total. [2]

In August 2006, a problem was discovered concerning operating costs of the new stadium. The city's Capital Improvement Board estimates that the new stadium could cost an additional $10 million more a year to operate than the RCA Dome. Because most of the revenue from games, parking, concessions, etc. goes directly to the Colts, finding a solution to the anticipated shortfall will need to come quickly. [3]

Local government officals are looking at increasing taxes again to help eliminate this shortfall. The taxpayers of Marion County and the surrounding counties are funding a large portion of the building.