“Naptown to Super City”: Considering the Indianapolis Sports Strategy

I grew up in Indiana, when to school in Indiana, Indianapolis is my home (big) town. I watched Razor Shines play at Bush Stadium for the Indians, sat in traffic at 3:00 a.m. to park on the infield for the 500, have competed on the Major Taylor Velodrome and burned a more than a few calories on a stationary bike making light bulbs glow at the Children's Museum. I think Indy's a nice place. Because I believe that cities can and should learn from one another, I've more than once suggested St. Louis should pay attention to the Circle City.

This week everyone's paying attention to Indianapolis as it plays host to Super Bowl XLVI. As part of the civic celebration, the Indianapolis Star and WFYI have produced "From Naptown to Super City", an hour documentary on the city's transformation into a mecca for major sporting events. It's a proverbial "must see" for those interested in Indy, city development and growth strategies. The film even does an admirable job including voices of dissent within the overwhelming boosterism one would expect.

The civic pride, and the personal pride of those who have been long committed to a sports strategy is understandable and serves up the usual suspect soundbites in urban development, a selection: "If we hadn't done the sports over here, we wouldn't have had the economic development over here." "I'm not sure we would have done the violin competition if we hadn't done the sports festival." "We're not in it for the sports, per se, we're in it for the community, sometimes that's exposure (SI cover), sometimes that's heads in bed (hotel revenue), sometimes that's building sports venues."