INDIANAPOLIS — The city of Indianapolis and people who live in surrounding counties are still paying for Lucas Oil Stadium, which has been in operation for the last 13 years.
The massive stadium cost roughly $720 million to build, which is around $850 million in 2019 dollars, and in order to pay for it the city had to impose a few taxes, which includes a one-percent tax on several of the donut counties that surround Marion County. Within Marion County, a food and beverage tax along with cigarette and extra income taxes go toward paying for the stadium.
However, with the numbers having been crunched by the Marion County Capital Improvement Board, the city has not even paid 100-million of that back, which means the city is way overdue on its payment schedule. Andy Mallon with the CIB blames the pandemic for falling even further behind in 2020.
“So, our revenue last year fell about $41 million short of our costs and obligations,” he told WISH-TV. “So that was our losses were last year and it is difficult to predict what they would be this year.”
Right now, $633 million is still owed on the stadium. The building will be 30-years-old by the time it’s supposed to be paid off in 2037. The taxes to pay for Lucas Oil are also on top of a few still left over to pay for the Hoosier/RCA Dome, says University of Indianapolis finance professor Matt Will.
The RCA Dome, which was just paid off in 2020, was only 24 years old when it was demolished. Market Square Arena was only 25 years old.
Another thing that is in need of consideration through it all is that there is a clause in the lease that the Colts have signed with the stadium that states that if the Colts are not among the top-five most valuable franchises in the NFL by the end of the decade, they can opt of the lease.
“I can tell you that right now the latest Forbes research shows that the Colts are the 20th most valuable team in the NFL,” said Will. “So the chance of them getting into the top-five by the end of the decade is pretty slim.”
Will said that clause might be used as leverage by the Colts when the time comes to get a better deal.
