The Indiana Pacers are scheduled to lose almost $30 million this season if their financial forecasts are right. That could mean that the team might not be able to pay the operating costs of the Conseco Fieldhouse, its home stadium.
While Herb Simon, co-owner of the Pacers, has mentioned time and again that he would not like to see the Pacers move to another city, it seems as though the franchise will be unable to pay the $15 million operating costs for the facilities that it has called its home for a number of years. The building is owned by the Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board and Pat Early, vice president on the Pacer’s board, has specifically mentioned that the Pacers will be unable to bear the expenses this year after a projected loss that amounts to almost twice the operating costs.
While the management mentioned that the franchise hasn’t threatened to leave the city, it would be forced to take some “very difficult decisions” if attendences continue to remain low or if the operating costs remain where they are. “It’s possible they could move the team,” Early said. “It’s possible they could sell the team. It is also possible they could shut the team down. What’s not possible is the Pacers losing the kind of money they’re losing this year indefinitely.”
Although Simon doesn’t want to move the team, he has said that the financial losses have just increased in the last three years. “I have no thought of leaving Indiana,” he said. “Only a thought of preserving the Pacers and keeping them in Indiana. That’s the only issue right here.”
Simon has denied any outside help for handling the Pacers, a team he has owned with his brother, Mel, since 1983. “We can handle the team,” he said. “It’s the operation of the facility that’s causing us the problem. We’re not asking anyone to pay for us. It’s just the operating of the facility.”
The deal for the stadium is 10-years old and the Pacers are negotiating with the Capital Improvement Board but the Pacers are sure that their $43 million deficit will not allow them to pay these costs.
“That’s the big question,” he said. “Really, we do not have the funding sources to allow us to be able to do this. We’ve contacted the state, the Legislature … we’re trying to figure out, are there solutions?”
Simon has expressed his desire to pass on the team to his heirs, now that he’s 74-years old. “The whole reason to do this is to put the team in the financial spot where it can stay here forever,” he said. “I’m getting on. I can’t be here forever. I can’t pass on a structure that doesn’t make sense to other people.”
While the stadium also hosts concerts and other events, Early had mentioned that the city will suffer if the operating costs are not made up by someone. “All the arts and entertainment and all that stuff is part of the overall environment we’ve been able to develop the past 40 years,” Early said. “You start taking pieces of the puzzle out, and I don’t know at what point it starts falling apart.”
In the last 10 years, the Pacers have lost money in 9 and have been at the bottom of the league in terms of attendence. Their state this season is just a little better than before. “Maybe the cost of keeping an NBA franchise in Indianapolis is more than the people of the city are willing to incur,” Early said.