Gainbridge Fieldhouse
Gainbridge Fieldhouse is an indoor arena located in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It opened in November 1999 to replace Market Square Arena. The arena is the home of the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association and the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association. The fieldhouse also hosts college basketball games (including the annual Big Ten Conference tournaments), indoor concerts, and ice hockey.
Former names
Conseco Fieldhouse (1999–2011)
Bankers Life Fieldhouse (2011–2021)
125 South Pennsylvania Street
Capital Improvement Board, City of Indianapolis
Capital Improvement Board of Managers of Marion County, Indiana
Basketball: 17,274
Concerts: 19,000
Ice hockey: 11,651
July 22, 1997
November 6, 1999
2020–2022
2022
1999 - present
Ellerbe Becket
Blackburn Architects[2]
John Klipsch Consulting, LLC[3]
Fink Roberts & Petrie Inc.[4]
Moore Engineers, P.C.[5]
The arena was originally named Conseco Fieldhouse, as the naming rights to the venue were sold to Conseco, a financial services organization based in nearby Carmel. In May 2010, the company renamed itself CNO Financial Group, but the fieldhouse retained the Conseco name. In December 2011, CNO Financial Group changed the name of the fieldhouse to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, after one of its subsidiaries, Bankers Life and Casualty.[7] CNO decided not to renew its naming sponsorship after it expired on June 30, 2019.[8] On September 27, 2021, the fieldhouse announced that Indianapolis-based financial platform Gainbridge would be the new naming partner for the fieldhouse in a multi-year partnership.[9]
In April 2019, the Marion County Capital Improvement Board approved a major renovation project for the fieldhouse. The $360 million project will include a new outdoor entry plaza, new indoor gathering areas, and various interior enhancements. The Pacers committed to remaining in Indianapolis for at least 25 more years as part of the renovation agreement.[10] Construction will take place in two phases, with the fieldhouse having planned to host the 2021 NBA All-Star Game in between the phases, which was later canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost all of the construction work took place during the Pacers offseasons.[11][12] The project displaced the Fever for all of the 2020 and 2021 WNBA seasons, as well as part of the 2022 season; for 2022, the Fever played the first section of the schedule at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, but after the NBA season ended, the Fever played games at Indiana Farmers Coliseum.
The arena was built to evoke an Indiana high school and college field house. As such, unlike most other North American sports arenas, it was designed primarily for basketball. The arena can accommodate an NHL-sized rink, but the ice hockey seating capacity is reduced to 12,300 in an asymmetrical configuration.
Wrestling[edit]
WWE has hosted many shows such as Raw and SmackDown.
WCW has hosted the PPV event Sin (2001).[58]
It also hosted many PPV events such as The Great American Bash (2006),[59] SummerSlam (2008),[60] Survivor Series (2012),[61] and Clash of Champions (2016),[62] and most recently Fastlane[63] on October 7, 2023.
The fieldhouse is notable for being the location of many landmark moments for the professional wrestling group The Shield, who debuted on November 18, 2012, at Survivor Series,[64] broke up on the June 2, 2014 episode of WWE Raw[65] and reunited on the October 9, 2017 episode of WWE Raw.[66]
Auto racing[edit]
In 2015, the fieldhouse hosted the Indy Invitational, with midget car racing and outlaw kart racing held on a dirt track erected on the arena floor.[67]
Awards and recognitions[edit]
In 2005 and 2006, Conseco 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 Conseco 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 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. On the evening of Saturday, October 11, 2004, the crowd set a record for the largest attendance at a U.S. Swimming event outside of the Olympics with 11,488 people.
Sportswriter Bill Simmons called Gainbridge Fieldhouse "incredible", saying "the only arena I've ever been in NBA-wise, where I honestly felt like it felt different was the Indiana one, because they built it for basketball only." He further elaborated by saying "it feels like the fans are on top of the court. The corners come way out toward the baseline. That's still my favorite. All these other ones feel like variations [of the same thing]."[68]
Scoreboard[edit]
In 2012, a giant state-of-the-art scoreboard was added to Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The scoreboard features twin 1080p high definition (HD) video screens, each measuring 50 feet (15 m) long – extending nearly foul line to foul line – by 21 feet (6.4 m) high. In addition to the HD screens running the length of the court, the innovative rectangular scoreboard design is capped by a 25 ft × 14 ft (7.6 m × 4.3 m) full 1080p HD video screen facing each baseline. The result of the design is a greatly improved visual experience from nearly every seat in the building. Additionally, a new sound system was installed.[69]
Arena football[edit]
The fieldhouse was home to the Indiana Firebirds of the Arena Football League from 2001 to 2004 after moving from Albany, New York.[70]
A Pacers' preseason game, showing the original scoreboard, during the Conseco Fieldhouse era
Satellite view of Gainbridge Fieldhouse, showing the former Conseco Fieldhouse name
Lobby during the Conseco Fieldhouse era
Balcony view of the 2013 Crossroads Classic
