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THE CFP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP’S FIRST NORTHERN HOST IS NO ROOKIE WHEN IT COMES TO STAGING BIG EVENTS

BY TOM HARTON

PHOTO COURTESY VISIT INDY

THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IS ALWAYS PLAYED IN JANUARY.

There’s no disputing that. And it always happens in the South or West, where the host city sells itself with mild winter weather.

Always. Until now. Until 2022, when Indianapolis muscled its way in and broke the Sunbelt’s grip on college football’s biggest party.

So, how did Indy do it? With an unmatched reputation for hosting major sporting events—more than 450 of them in the last 40 years.

“There is no bett er city to visit for an event than Indy,” says Bleacher Report sportswriter Will Carroll.

Indy always puts on a show. Whether hosting the Super Bowl, the college basketball Final Four, the Indy 500, or one of the hundreds of events that happen here, Indianapolis raises the bar for any championship, tournament, or game that comes its way.

That’s why the Irving, Texas–based College Football Playoff , the entity that manages the national championship game, asked the city to bid on the game back in 2017. Organizers knew Indy would be up to the challenge—and then some.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to have the college football fan base experience Indianapolis,” says Bill Hancock, executive director of the CFP

Hancock got to know the city well in his 13 years as director of the NCAA’s Division I Men’s Basketball Championship and marvels at the city’s ability to host the biggest championships in sports.

“Until you’ve visited Indianapolis, I don’t believe you can understand the spirit of the place,” he says.

PLAYING THE PLAYING THE LONG GAME LONG GAME

Clockwise from top left: Victory Field, Major Taylor Velodrome, Hinkle Fieldhouse, the 1987 Pan American Games opening ceremony

INDY’S REPUTATION as a slamdunk host for major sporting events is usually traced to 1982, when the city hosted the National Sports Festival— once the country’s premier showcase of amateur athletics.

Over eight days, an army of volunteers welcomed 250,000 spectators and 2,600 athletes, many of them future Olympians. Carl Lewis, Evelyn Ashford, and Greg Louganis were among the competitors who went on to win Olympic Gold, but the big winner was Indianapolis.

The city’s successful turn as host was a springboard to an even bigger prize: the 1987 Pan American Games, an Olympics-style event for the Western Hemisphere.

Both events were big tests of an idea city leaders adopted in the 1970s to use sports as a tool for downtown revitalization and broader economic development.

They created the nonprofi t Indiana Sports Corp. to guide the strategy and scooped up the headquarters of the national governing bodies for diving, gymnastics, track and fi eld, and other sports.

Meanwhile, the city’s public, private, and philanthropic communities came together to build more than $100 million of Olympic-caliber sports venues long before other cities woke up to the potential of sports as an economic driver.

Between the time the sports strategy was hatched and the arrival of the National Sports Festival, Indianapolis

THE CITY’S PUBLIC, PRIVATE, AND PHILANTHROPIC COMMUNITIES CAME TOGETHER TO BUILD ... OLYMPIC-CALIBER SPORTS VENUES LONG BEFORE OTHER CITIES WOKE UP TO THE POTENTIAL OF SPORTS AS AN ECONOMIC DRIVER.

built the Michael Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium, the IU Natatorium, the Major Taylor Velodrome, and an Olympic-sanctioned rowing course. Those facilities joined the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Butler University’s iconic Hinkle Fieldhouse, and the since-demolished Market Square Arena among Indy’s arsenal of sports venues—but there were more to come.

The Hoosier Dome—replaced by Lucas Oil Stadium in 2008—was built to lure a National Football League franchise, a bet that paid off when the Colts arrived in 1984. Victory Field, home of

the Minor League Baseball Indianapolis Indians, opened across the street in 1996, and Gainbridge Fieldhouse, home of the Indiana Pacers, replaced Market Square Arena in 1999.

PROXIMITY AS PROXIMITY AS A SELLING POINT A SELLING POINT

IT’S NO ACCIDENT that most of the city’s major sports venues are within or near the Mile Square, the tight-knit heart of downtown Indianapolis.

College football fans who haven’t been to an event here will experience for the fi rst time the convenience of staying, dining, and sightseeing within walking distance of Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indiana Convention Center, which will host a full roster of ancillary events meant to keep fans engaged before the national title contenders take the fi eld.

“We’re going to use the Mile Square as our Championship Campus—all the fan events will happen within that, so people can literally just walk from place to place and won’t have to drive a lot,” says Susan Baughman, president of the 2022 Indianapolis Host Committ ee.

The proximity of everything Indy has to off er is among the advantages that have lured athletes and spectators to come back for almost four decades.

The NCAA is well versed in Indy’s selling points. The organization moved here in 1997, drawn by the city’s focus on sports, and has staged eight men’s Final Fours, three women’s Final Fours, and numerous other championships here since 1980.

The athletes themselves are among the city’s advocates, says David Worlock, who works in Championships External Operations for the college sports governing body.

“We know that Indianapolis is a favorite spot because participants can leave practice and quickly get back to their hotel,” Worlock says. “They don’t lose a lot of time sitt ing on a bus, stuck in traffi c.”

“Fans and participants can fl y to Indianapolis and get sett led into their hotels, and—unless they want to—they never have to get in a car for the duration of their trip,” he continues. “There are places to see, things to do, and a variety of restaurants to dine in, and it’s all within reasonable walking distance.”

THE PROXIMITY OF EVERYTHING INDY HAS TO OFFER IS AMONG THE ADVANTAGES THAT HAVE LURED ATHLETES AND SPECTATORS TO COME BACK FOR ALMOST FOUR DECADES.

Clockwise from top: the downtown skyline from White River State Park, the 1933 Lounge by St. Elmo, a Dutch baby pancake at Milktooth, the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art—just one of Indy’s attractions within walking distance of Lucas Oil stadium

discovernewfields.org/lume

Indeed, the city boasts 7,500 hotel rooms (4,700 of which are connected via skywalks), more than 300 restaurants (including the acclaimed St. Elmo Steak House, Bluebeard, and Milktooth), and a deep lineup of museums and other att ractions—all in the city center.

PEOPLE POWER PEOPLE POWER

WHAT REALLY SETS Indy apart, though, is the people.

“Everyone—including the ushers and concessionaires, event operators, local organizing committ ee members, hotel personnel, and volunteers—approaches these events like it could be their last,” says Worlock. “Nothing is taken for granted, no matt er how many times they’ve previously hosted. There’s never a sense of complacency...and that continuous energy and hospitality makes Indianapolis truly special.”

ALL OF INDY’S ADVANTAGES CAME INTO PLAY WHEN THE NCAA CHOSE THE CITY FOR THE MASSIVE UNDERTAKING (HOSTING THE ENTIRE NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT)...

Are Indy’s hosting skills rusty because of the pandemic? Not at all. If they were, that rust was shaken off last spring when the city hosted the entire NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

All of Indy’s advantages came into play when the NCAA chose the city for the massive undertaking, an unprecedented feat made even more challenging by a tight timeline and layers of pandemic protocols for athletes and fans alike.

Baughman, who has run other NCAA championships here, was spending all her time on the CFP National Championship by then, so she wasn’t involved in the 2021 basketball tournament. That gave her an outsider’s perspective on what it’s like to be a fan in Indy.

“Honestly, it was great to see it from the outside,” Baughman says. “It was very satisfying to know that the whole tournament landed here, which was such a historical fi t.”

“I saw the quietness of the city during the pandemic, and I think that became a motivator for the organizers,” she says. “Everyone popped right back into event mode.”

Clockwise from top: 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four at Gainbridge Fieldhouse; Georgia Street during the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament; a 2021 NCAA Final Four banner on Georgia Street; a basketballthemed mural—part of “Swish,” the arts and culture component of Indy’s 2021 NCAA Tournament

Clockwise from top left: the Cultural Trail connects walkers and bikers to all corners of downtown, the CFP National Championship trophy at Lucas Oil Stadium, the bar at Bluebeard, the 2019 Big 10 Football Finals at Lucas Oil

READY FOR READY FOR KICKOFF KICKOFF

NOW IT’S BAUGHMAN’S job, along with Indianapolis Host Committ ee chairman Mark Howell, to channel all that expertise into pulling off an unforgett able College Football Playoff National Championship experience. In Indy, that’s no Hail Mary, no matt er the weather.

“Football fans are going to fi nd a stadium here that is top notch and can’t be beat as a host venue,” she says. And they’re going to have a lot to do before the game, all of it within walking distance. “You can pack a lot into a day when everything is so close.”

Baughman says to expect the unexpected. “We’ve got some surprises planned, especially for those who don’t realize the city has a lot of technology strengths.”

Weeks aft er the CFP National Championship, Indy will be in the spotlight again as host of the National Football League Scouting Combine, a showcase of aspiring NFL talent that Indianapolis has hosted since 1987. It returns aft er being cancelled in 2021 because of the pandemic.

Planning is also well underway for the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, which Indy will host for the second time.

Making it all possible is the same civic pride that has fueled the city’s sports movement for more than four decades.

Baughman says the host commitee is having no trouble signing up the 2,500 to 3,000 volunteers needed to host the national championship game.

Allison Melangton had the same experience when she was president and CEO of Indy’s host committ ee for

FOOTBALL FANS ARE GOING TO FIND A STADIUM HERE THAT IS TOP NOTCH ... AND THEY’RE GOING TO HAVE A LOT TO DO BEFORE THE GAME, ALL OF IT WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE.

Super Bowl XLVI. “People would walk up to me on the street and hand me their business card,” she says.

On the back of each card, she wrote down when and where she had received it. And Melangton called all of them back herself—even if it was two years later—demonstrating the att ention to detail the city is known for.

Melangton, now senior vice president for Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Penske Entertainment, isn’t in charge of the Indianapolis Host Committ ee for the CFP National Championship, but she is confi dent Indy won’t disappoint.

“It’s another event for our city to show the rest of the world what we’re made of.”