Indianapolis is My Home

16
Aug

Lucas Oil Stadium Tour

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Downtown, Indianapolis Colts, Lucas Oil Stadium, Real Estate, Sports

I was one of the few (me and another 9,999) people that were able to score some tickets for the inaugural public tour of the Grand Opening of the new Lucas Oil Stadium here in Indianapolis.

The stadium and functionality of it are very impressive. The crowd control for the event wasn’t very impressive. If there really were only 10,000 people allowed into each tour, their ability to move people into the stadium quickly left something to be desired.

The tour was basically self-guided, you couldn’t go anywhere you wanted, but you basically just wondered around at your own pace and could linger where you wanted. The problem was that you only had two hours. We arrived at the stadium right at 10am when we were supposed to and didn’t make it into the front doors until after 10:30am. We walked around a bit and eventually decided to work our way down to the field itself.  Once you make it down to the field you can’t come back up into the street level concourses, so you’re on your way out at that point. You’re then faced with the decision of just going straight-out the back loading dock ramp or divert to walk past the locker room.

When we started in the line for the locker room, it was 11:10am, we walked out of the stadium, done with our tour, at 12pm. Didn’t get to go "into" the locker room, just walk by it and take a quick picture.

You can see all my photos in my slideshow below.

09
Aug

Pan American Plaza by Polina Osherov

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Downtown, Indianapolis Colts, Indianapolis History, Local Artists, Lucas Oil Stadium, RCA Dome, Real Estate

Polina Osherov is a local photographer here in Indianapolis and she recently shared this photo with me that she took of the Pan American Plaza area downtown. I just thought this was a great photo showing some of the history of sports in this city.

From the Pan Am Plaza that was built for the Pan American Games that the city hosted in 1987.

You can see the RCA Dome, home of the Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts that was built in 1984 at a cost of $82 million.

Then in the background to the south you’ve got the soon to be opened Lucas Oil Stadium, the new home of the Indianapolis Colts and the home of the 2012 Super Bowl!

22
Jul

More Tickets Available for Lucas Oil Stadium Tour

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Downtown, Indianapolis Colts, Lucas Oil Stadium, Real Estate, WISH - Channel 8

More tickets are going on sale today in about 10 minutes if you’re interested. I’ve already snagged my set of two tickets for my son and I to take the first tour of the day on August 16th.

Twenty thousand tickets will be available Tuesday morning at 10 at the Conseco Fieldhouse box office or Ticketmaster.com. The tickets are free and required.

Not sure if you saw the other recent coverage of some of the seats that are available for fans in the new stadium.

How do you like those puppies? You’d be a bit upset wouldn’t you? They could have at least put up a nice LCD screen on the columns couldn’t they?

You’ve got to wonder if the people that designed the seating have ever been to a game before? Or is this the case of the new stadium needing to meet a specific seating threshold number of seats available? My boss suggested they could have hung seats off the various decks like those toddler seats you clamp on your kitchen table.

WISH TV 8: Indianapolis News and Weather - 20,000 stadium tour tickets available

14
Jul

I Got My Lucas Oil Stadium Tour Tickets

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Indianapolis Colts, Lucas Oil Stadium, News, Sports, Things To Do in Indy, WRTV - TV Channel 6

This morning I got a text message from Ticketmaster reminding me that the tickets for the free, public tour for the new Colts Lucas Oil Stadium tour that’s taking place on August 16th.

I went on to Ticketmaster’s website this morning and initially tried to get 4 tickets so each member of my family could attend. I couldn’t confirm that order so I backed my order down to two so my son and I could go. That was successful. I didn’t realize how huge the demand for this was until I saw a news article about it later.

Fans began lining up at about 7 a.m. for a chance to get the tickets. Some were season ticket holders, but most were people who normally don’t get to go to many games, 6News’ Julie Pursley reported.

Now I’m in a discussion about whether or not it was appropriate for the Colts or whomever to limit the “free” tickets to only 60,000 if there was a demand for much more. Did they create a problem? Is it okay for scalpers to now sell the once free tickets at a premium? Is it worth it to you to get to see the stadium in this way?

Colts Fans Snag Free Stadium Tour Tickets - Sports News Story - WRTV Indianapolis

24
Jun

Public Tours of Lucas Oil Stadium

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Downtown, Indianapolis Colts, Lucas Oil Stadium, Real Estate

Here’s your chance to get a personal tour of Lucas Oil Stadium. Well, personal as in you and 19,999 other people you don’t know going with you.

The event is free, but people who want to go will have to get a ticket. Those will be made available starting July 14 on Ticketmaster’s Web site.

Officials said as many as 20,000 people can be accommodated on each of the tours and that more will be added if needed.

Regardless, I think I’ll be trying to get me a ticket for that little deal. Try to take my son too. You can get a video tour here or go straight to Ticketmaster and get your tickets for the live tour here.

Public Invited To Lucas Oil Stadium Tour - Indiana News Story - WRTV Indianapolis

23
May

Gene Wojciechowski Can Stay Home in February

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Lucas Oil Stadium, Special Events

First Mr. Wojciechowski spends more than the first half of his article complaining about why Indianapolis shouldn’t be the host of the 2012 Super Bowl, but briefly inserts the following:

I’ve got nothing against Indianapolis. It’s a lovely place to hold car races, a Final Four, even an NBA All-Star Game every few decades or so. Plus, you can never go wrong at that downtown Steak ‘n Shake.

Nothing against? You mean like the first 10 paragraphs nothing against? Last time I checked some of the greatest teams in football were from colder weather locations. And each of those teams crammed out stadiums with fans who weren’t worried about freezing their butts off to support their team. Perhaps you would also like to outlaw any open air stadiums?

So, if you’re team makes it to winter vacation Super Bowl, then play the game and do what you were sent there to do.

Indianapolis will host one great Super Bowl. Now shut-up and do your job and report about sports. If I wanted your opinion on travel destinations I would have looked for your article in Frommer’s.

ESPN - Can’t quite warm up to cold-weather Super Bowl - Columnist

20
May

Indianapolis Wins Bid for Super Bowl 2012

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business Entrepreneurs, Downtown, Indianapolis Colts, Indy Pro Athletes, Lucas Oil Stadium, News, Special Events

Great news for the city! Congratulations to everyone that participated and help secure this deal into reality. Can’t wait to see this thing come to the city and hopefully be a part of it in some way.

Indianapolis officials had gone to great lengths to secure the 25,000 hotel rooms required by league bid specifications. They also hammered home the city’s strengths, including downtown connectivity and history of hosting big events, from the 1987 Pan Am Games to the Indianapolis 500 and NCAA men’s basketball Final Fours.

Indianapolis also came up with $25 million in corporate and individual support to fund various Super Bowl operations, including event hosting, transportation and building a practice facility. NFL sources said Indianapolis has more money secured to host the 2012 Super Bowl than either Phoenix or Houston.

I still think that working as hard to get back and keep events like the F1 should also have the same importance.

What do you think?

Indianapolis lands Super Bowl

19
May

Tomorrow Is the Big Day - Super Bowl 2012?

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Downtown, Indianapolis Colts, Indy Pro Athletes, Lucas Oil Stadium

Tomorrow is the big day, the NFL owners should decide where the Super Bowl will be taking place in 2012. According to the IBJ, Indianapolis is leading as the "frontrunner".

"There’s a thought that Indianapolis and Jim Irsay have done everything they need to host a Super Bowl," said Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based consulting firm Sportcorp Ltd., which counts several NFL teams as clients. "You can never predict what these 32 owners will decide, but some think Indianapolis is in a solid position."

The Indianapolis promoters have added an interesting idea to build the equivalent of an "Olympic village" downtown to provide an epicenter of activity for visitors to participate in without having to have tickets to game itself.

20
Aug

Superbowl Matchup Rematch

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Indianapolis Colts, Indy Pro Athletes, Lucas Oil Stadium, RCA Dome, Sports

The Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears are playing each other tonight on Monday Night Football. It’s not really Monday Night Football in my opinion, but anytime to watch the Colts play is a good game.

They’re currently not winning, but that’s okay with me. I think the pre-season is to let people play that you’re really wanting to see what they can do. It’s also an opportunity to probably try some match-ups for people that you wouldn’t risk in the regular season.

The score is 27-17 Chicago, so not the score you’d like to see, but I’m seeing some good plays by people I don’t know. I’m seeing some good catches and runs from people, as well as some great defensive, hard-hitting tackles.

Although the 3rd string quarterback, Betts, will more than likely not see much game time, he’s looking good. He’s only problem is he appears to be forcing some passes and he’s had 2 interceptions just in the 4th quarter that I’ve seen. I’m not sure if he’s pushing it to try to make a name for himself or if he’s really not seeing the coverage and making bad passes.

4:14 left in the game and I’m getting tired. They’re interviewing Dwight Freeney now about his recent contract, highest paid defensive player in the NFL history.

Good for him. I’m looking forward to seeing him plant some QB’s this year. Just as long as it’s not against my fantasy league players.