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Last updated on Thursday, February 26, 2015
(STATEHOUSE) - A bill to help finance a new stadium for the Indy Eleven pro soccer team is on its way to the Senate.
The House voted 73-21 to give Indy's City-County Council the option of letting the Indy Eleven keep sales and income taxes from games at its current home at IUPUI. The team could also keep tax dollars from a new downtown hotel team owner Ersal Ozdemir plans to build. It's the same mechanism which helped build Lucas Oil Stadium for the Colts and Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the Pacers.
But Fishers Republican Todd Huston, the bill's sponsor, says unlike those projects, the state would have no direct involvement in any stadium debt -- the bill only authorizes the council to take action. The bill also requires the team to take responsibility for at least half any debt.
Senate President David Long is noncommittal about the bill -- he says it may go on the back burner until the state gets an updated revenue forecast in April.
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