Bankers Life Fieldhouse
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| Bankers Life Fieldhouse | |
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| Former names | Conseco Fieldhouse (1999–2011) |
| Location | 125 S. Pennsylvania St. Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 United States |
| Coordinates | 39°45′50″N 86°9′20″W / 39.76389°N 86.15556°WCoordinates: 39°45′50″N 86°9′20″W / 39.76389°N 86.15556°W |
| Broke ground | July 22, 1997 |
| Opened | November 6, 1999 |
| Owner | Capital Improvement Board, City of Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Operator | Capital Improvement Board of Managers of Marion County, Indiana |
| Construction cost | $ 183 million USD ($241 million in 2012 dollars[1]) |
| Architect | Ellerbe Becket Architects & Engineers |
| Project Manager | J. Beard Management[2] |
| Structural engineer | Fink Roberts & Petrie Inc.[3] |
| General Contractor | Huber, Hunt & Nichols/Smoot[4] |
| Capacity | Basketball: 18,345 (1999–2006), 18,165 (2006–present) |
| Tenants | |
| Indiana Pacers (NBA) (1999–present) Indiana Fever (WNBA) (2000–present) Indiana Firebirds (AFL) (2001–2004) |
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Bankers Life Fieldhouse is a multi-purpose arena located in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Opened in November 1999 as Conseco Fieldhouse to replace Market Square Arena, it is home to the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association and the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association. The Indiana Ice of the United States Hockey League also plays select games each year at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The venue also hosts indoor concerts, college basketball games (including the annual Big Ten Conference tournaments) and many other events.
Its moniker is a result of the naming rights to the venue being sold to Conseco, a financial services organization based in nearby Carmel, Indiana. In May 2010, that company renamed itself as CNO Financial Group, but the Conseco name was retained by the Fieldhouse. In December of 2011, CNO Financial Group changed the name of the Fieldhouse to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, based off one of their subsidiaries, Bankers Life and Casualty. [5]
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[edit] Events
The first event held at Bankers Life Fieldhouse was on November 6, 1999, when the Indiana Pacers played their regular-season home opener against the Boston Celtics. Later that same season, the Pacers made it to the 2000 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Three games of that championship series were held at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, but the Pacers ended up losing that season's title 4 games to 2. In 2009, Bankers Life Fieldhouse again was the site of a professional championship series, this time the 2009 WNBA Finals. The Indiana Fever took on the Phoenix Mercury for games three and four of that series in front of sold-out crowds of 18,165 basketball fans.
Bankers Life Fieldhouse is a host venue for many different events besides home games for the Pacers and Fever. From 2002 to 2007, the venue served as the site of the Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament in even numbered years while the tournament was held at the United Center in Chicago in odd numbered years. In 2008, the tournament was moved to Bankers Life Fieldhouse exclusively for five years, through 2012. The arena is also a frequent site of the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament. 2012 will mark the 12th time in 13 years that the tournament has been held at the Fieldhouse. On June 5, 2011, the Big Ten Conference announced that beginning in 2013 the location of both of the conference basketball tournaments for the following four years would be alternated between the Chicago area and Indianapolis. Bankers Life Fieldhouse will once again be the site for both men's and women's events in 2014 and 2016.[6] The 2011 NCAA Women's Final Four was also held at the Fieldhouse on April 3 and 5 of 2011.
The Professional Bull Riders brought its Built Ford Tough Series bull riding tour to the Fieldhouse for the first time in January 2011.[7] It was their second visit to Indianapolis; they first visited Indianapolis during the 2004 season when they held a BFTS event at the RCA Dome. The Fieldhouse was also the site of the WWE pay-per-view events The Great American Bash 2006 and SummerSlam 2008. It has also hosted various episodes of WWE RAW and SmackDown, including the October 8, 2001 episode of RAW in which Stone Cold Steve Austin won the WWE Championship for the sixth and final time.
[edit] Awards and recognitions
Bankers Life Fieldhouse has received widespread acclaim as one of the finest facilities in all of the sports world. It is designed after Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler University and the other fieldhouses, which are considered some of the best places to see a basketball game, that covered the state of Indiana with very busy crowds on Friday nights in the formative years of high school basketball.
In 2005, 2006, and 2007, Bankers Life Fieldhouse was ranked the No. 1 venue in the NBA according to the Sports Business Journal/Sports Business Daily Reader Survey. In 2006 The Ultimate Sports Road Trip reaffirmed Bankers Life Fieldhouse as the best venue in all 4 of the major sports leagues. “The Ultimate Sports Road Trip has recently concluded a re-scoring and re-evaluation of all 122 franchises in the four major sports, based on our personal visits to each of the teams in a journey that began in 1998. Based on our criteria, Conseco Fieldhouse has once again withstood scrutiny to be named the “best of the best” in the four major sports. Everything about Conseco Fieldhouse is top notch, a sparkling venue in a sparkling city," said Farrell and Kulyk.
In October 2004, the Fieldhouse hosted the 2004 FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships. A 25 meter 300,000 gallon competition pool and 174,000 gallon warm-up pool were temporarily installed. A total of 71,659 tickets were sold for the four day event. The crowd on the evening of Saturday, October 11, 2004 set a record for the largest attendance at a U.S. Swimming event outside of the Olympics with 11,488 people.
[edit] Gallery
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Main entrance
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Interior during a Pacers game
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Bankers Life Fieldhouse entry pavilion
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Pacers Locker Room
[edit] References
- ^ Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–2008. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
- ^ http://www.emporis.com/building/consecofieldhouse-indianapolis-in-usa
- ^ http://www.frpinc.com/gallery/Conseco%20Fieldhouse.pdf
- ^ http://basketball.ballparks.com/NBA/IndianaPacers/newindex.htm
- ^ http://www.indystar.com/article/20111222/BUSINESS/112220323/Bankers-Life-knocks-Conseco-off-fieldhouse-title?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CIndyStar.com
- ^ http://www.bigten.org/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/060511aaa.html
- ^ http://www.pbrnow.com/release/?id=6771
[edit] External links
| Events and tenants | ||
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| Preceded by Market Square Arena |
Home of the Indiana Pacers 1999 – present |
Succeeded by current |
| Preceded by first arena |
Home of the Indiana Fever 2000 – present |
Succeeded by current |
| Preceded by Olympic Indoor Hall Athens |
FIBA World Championship Final Venue 2002 |
Succeeded by Saitama Super Arena Saitama |
| Preceded by Alamodome San Antonio, Texas |
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament Final Four 2011 |
Succeeded by Pepsi Center Denver, Colorado |
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- Basketball venues in Indiana
- College basketball venues in the United States
- National Basketball Association venues
- Event venues established in 1999
- Indiana Pacers
- Indiana Fever
- Indianapolis Ice
- Indiana Firebirds
- Indoor arenas in the United States
- Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States
- Sports venues in Indianapolis, Indiana
- Arena football venues
