Indianapolis, IN

MLS commissioner: Indy doing 'everything right' in bid to join league – Indianapolis Business Journal

Published

1 year ago

July 24, 2024

MLS commissioner: Indy doing 'everything right' in bid to join league – Indianapolis Business Journal

MLS Commissioner Don Garber speaks to media ahead of the MLS All-Star Game on July 24, 2024. (IBJ photo/Mickey Shuey)

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber said Indianapolis is “following the playbook” in its effort to land an expansion club.

Speaking at a mid-season news conference during MLS All-Star week in Columbus, Garber said that while the addition of San Diego FC in 2025 will “be the end of expansion for a time,” he is paying close attention to the work Indianapolis officials are doing to position the city for a bid to the league and plans to continue engaging with city officials in the coming months.

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett, who announced his effort to pursue Major League Soccer on April 25, traveled to Columbus to engage with Garber and league and team executives, alongside the the city’s Chief Deputy Mayor Dan Parker on Tuesday and Tom Glick, a longtime soccer executive working with the city to oversee its MLS efforts.

While Hogsett said he hopes to work with a prospective investor group to file a league application from the city by the end of this year, Garber said Wednesday he considers the process to be in its infancy.

“I think they’re doing, so far, everything right,” he said. “They’re following the playbook. Tom’s a very experienced guy … who knows how to build a team and a soccer team. So I think they’re doing everything right. This is a process. It takes time and these are teams that require a whole lot of constituents to come together, from ownership to city leaders to other fans and partners, and we’re very much in the beginning of this process.”

Hogsett and Garber first met April 22, just three days before the mayor publicly announced plans to pursue MLS. The city contingent attended a private reception hosted by Garber on Tuesday night, although Hogsett returned to Indianapolis on Wednesday to greet Vice President Kamala Harris upon her arrival for a sorority convention.

Garber said while Hogsett, local and state leaders “are very bullish” about joining MLS, he expects the league will rely on a tried and true formula, which has evolved over the past 28 years, to decide what organizations will join its ranks.

“We’ve done this a lot. We’ve expanded by over 20 teams … so we understand how to manage this process,” he said. “We love the city. We love the support from the city leaders and from the state. We think there’s interesting ownership dynamics. We like the location that we’re talking about for the stadium, so we’ll continue to work with them.”

The Hogsett administration in the coming weeks is expected to receive a completed feasibility study and fiscal analysis for the proposed soccer stadium site at the Indianapolis Downtown Heliport from Chicago-based Hunden Partners. Those reports will be submitted to the Indiana Finance Authority, State Budget Committee and State Budget Agency for consideration as part of a request to finalize a new professional sports development area, or PSDA, taxing district.

A source familiar with the situation said several team and league executives also met separately on Wednesday with Glick, amid a day of meetings tied to the MLS Board of Governors at the Hilton Columbus downtown hotel.

Glick helped establish Charlotte FC and was a longtime front office executive for New York City FC, in addition to stints with overseas clubs. He now runs Charlotte-based Rockledge Sports Advisory.

He, alongside Hogsett and Parker, also hosted several league executives, attorneys and other power players in a suite at Lower.com Field, during Tuesday’s MLS All-Star Skills Challenge. Indianapolis City-County Council president Vop Osili is attending Wednesday’s all-star game in Hogsett’s place, arriving in Columbus on Wednesday evening.

Glick and Parker also independently met with multiple league and MLS team officials throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, sources told IBJ, speaking on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of discussions about Major League Soccer expansion.

Garber said he’s aware of who is involved in a would-be investor group for an Indianapolis club but said he couldn’t provide any details.

Speculation continues to swirl about the involvement of the Herb Simon family, which owns the Indiana Pacers and Fever franchises. However, Danny Lopez, executive vice president of community and external affairs and corporate communications for the Pacers organization, told IBJ the Simons are not in Columbus this week.

Indy Eleven owner Ersal Ozdemir, whose Eleven Park soccer stadium project was torpedoed when the city announced its own MLS efforts also did not attend all-star events. Glick and city officials have unsuccessfully approached Ozdemir at least four times about being part of the ownership group, a source said.

Hogsett has said he expects a local investor group will be revealed “sooner rather than later,” and certainly before the city submits its request to the state government entities for consideration of the PSDA.

Garber noted that despite Indianapolis’ interest, there’s no firm timeline for MLS to expand from its current stable of 30 teams to where many owners have indicated it hopes to be—at 32 overall. But he said if Indianapolis, or any other city, makes a compelling argument to join the league, it would have the ears of league leadership.

“If there’s a good market for us to expand it, if that market makes sense, if we have the right owner, and the right stadium plan, I think, like any league, we would consider strongly expanding beyond 30 teams that we have now,” he said.

League and team sources told IBJ this week it could be a tough path forward for Indianapolis because the league hadn’t planned to consider expansion until after North America hosts the World Cup in 2026, noting that MLS club entry fees could grow anywhere from 25% to 50% higher from their latest price. San Diego paid $500 million for its club, which begins play next year.

Whether or not Indianapolis gets that nod—and regardless of when it comes—it’s clear that the next expansion club will be on the hook an entry fee that’s higher than what San Diego paid just a few years ago.

“It will be more than $500 million” for that fee, Garber said.

Hogsett said this week that while he didn’t expect any formal commitments from MLS during his trip to Columbus, he continues to be interested in an “accelerated” timeline for Indianapolis’ shot at joining the league.

“All we can focus on is making sure that we’re doing what we need to be doing, to put together as competitive a bid for a club as we can, and that’s what we are doing,” he said.

“We would like that process to be as accelerated as we can reasonably make it, while at the same time being responsible. My job as mayor is to present to them the most compelling argument as to why Indianapolis should be included in decisions that they may ultimately make about awarding a club, and we’re doing that. MLS will take care of the rest once we’ve submitted an application.”

Clark Hunt, owner of Dallas FC and the Kansas City Chiefs, was among those who met with Hogsett in the suite. He said they discussed the stadium site and the city’s overall interest in joining the league.

“It’s great to see [Indianapolis] political leaders here,” he said. “They’re obviously very focused on it, and they came to make sure everybody in the league knows that their interest is sincere.”

Hunt, who has been involved with the league since 1996, initially as owner of the Columbus Crew, is considered among the most influential owners in the league when it comes to expansion discussions.

Like Garber, Hunt said the league has “no established timeline right now for future expansion” but added he thinks Indianapolis would be a good fit for MLS when that time comes.

“I think it’s likely down the road that we’ll consider expansion again,” he said. “Clearly a city like Indianapolis, which is a proven sports town, would have to be a great candidate.”

Hunt and other owners told IBJ they believe the league could reasonably expand to 32 teams, matching the number now playing in the National Football League.

Jeff Berding, co-CEO of FC Cincinnati, said he expects the league will eventually pursue that number, but said the World Cup might be an opportune time to do so.

“I’m not going to get out ahead of it,” he said. “Obviously, there’s other leagues in the United States that have more teams than our current 30. So that would say that there’s a model for success.”

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Indianapolis, IN

Indianapolis Woman Charged with Threatening to Kill U.S. Representative

Published

7 hours ago

January 14, 2026

Press Room

Indianapolis Woman Charged with Threatening to Kill U.S. Representative

WISH-TV

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis woman has been charged in federal court with making threats against a member of U.S. Congress.

Shayla Addison, 28, has been charged with two counts of influencing a federal official by threat. She faces up to a decade in prison and a fine of $250,000 if convicted.

U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI said Addison’s social media posts, phone calls, text messages, and emails to the Congress member included threatening statements such as “Come outside b****, we’ll kill you,” “we will kill you b****,” and “tread lightly.”

After emailing the Congress member, Addison did not stop. She continued to post threats on her Instagram account stating “Shut up hoe I’ll kill you” and “I hope you got mace… cause you gone need it hoe.”

On Tuesday, a guilty plea was filed in federal court on behalf of Addison. If the plea is accepted, the court will set a sentencing date.

This isn’t the first time Addison has made threats towards others. In 2019, she repeatedly called a Firehouse Subs in Brownsburg and threatened to shoot up or blow up the store. Her second incident was in 2023, when she threatened to pour gasoline on the front porch of a home in Marion County.

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Indianapolis, IN

Slew of bills could tighten state’s grip on Indianapolis law enforcement

Published

19 hours ago

January 14, 2026

Press Room

Slew of bills could tighten state’s grip on Indianapolis law enforcement

While Republican lawmakers tighten their grip on local policing, critics say they could further erode trust between police and communities.
One proposal would give some National Guard members full authority to police cities and make arrests during emergencies.
Other bills target county prosecutors and hot-button issues like civilian-led police oversight boards and homelessness.

From granting some Indiana National Guard members full policing power to creating a state-appointed special prosecutor to oversee part of downtown Indianapolis, Republican lawmakers are proposing changes that would tighten the state’s grip on law enforcement in the capital city and beyond.

Multiple bills filed this legislative session aim to impose the Indiana General Assembly’s will on local governments like Indianapolis that Republicans perceive to be too lax on crime. Major changes would allow elected county prosecutors to be impeached and grant a governor-appointed special prosecutor authority over Indy’s Mile Square. Subtler proposals would strip power from some civilian-led police oversight boards — a George Floyd–era reform passed by many cities including Indianapolis to increase accountability — and criminalize street homelessness.

Republicans who back such state intervention say that Democrats who run cities like Indianapolis fail to take violent crime as seriously as they should, in favor of more progressive stances on criminal justice issues.

“Their ‘reform’ agenda has meant weaker enforcement, dangerous plea deals and fewer consequences for repeat offenders,” State Rep. Andrew Ireland, R-Indianapolis, said of Indianapolis elected officials ahead of the 2026 session. “The result is predictable: Indianapolis families live in fear while violent criminals walk free.”

Critics say that collectively, the bills align with a recurrent problem: state leaders trying to intervene in cities to score political wins rather than to improve communities. If passed, they say the policies could undermine law enforcement agencies that report to local elected officials and can be readily held accountable, unlike forces sent in by the governor.

“I don’t like the anti-democratic — and that’s with a small d — I don’t like the anti-democratic tendencies of this legislation,” Mark Russell, director of advocacy for the Indianapolis Urban League, told IndyStar.

Giving some National Guard members full police powers

One such proposal that’s moving forward, House Bill 1343, would give select National Guard members full authority to police cities and make arrests during emergencies declared by the Indiana governor. Indiana law currently limits guardsmen’s ability to make arrests to specific situations, like when participants in an “unlawful assembly” refuse to leave.

The goal is to ensure guardsmen are ready to support local law enforcement during extreme situations such as riots or terrorist attacks like the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Indiana National Guard Adjutant General Larry Muennich said during a Jan. 8 hearing on the bill. Guard spokeswoman Lauren Houck previously told IndyStar that the legislation was partially inspired by periods of “civil unrest, similar to what occurred in Indianapolis and Louisville during the 2020 pandemic” in the wake of Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police.

The enhanced policing power would apply to roughly 500 military police who make up less than 5% of the total force of Indiana’s guardsmen, Muennich said. Military police, who already do training on topics like managing civil disturbances and use of force, will be required to do an abridged version of Indiana law enforcement training as part of this change, he said.

“What this is is a tool in our toolkit,” Muennich told the House Veterans and Public Affairs Committee. “It allows us the capabilities when we need those capabilities the most, and it allows us to do it quickly and it allows us to do it responsibly. Because if I can do it now and I can set those authorities now … I don’t have to worry about it when I’m needed.”

The bill moved forward with a 9-3 committee vote, mostly along party lines, and must still be voted on by the full state House and Senate. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun supports the change because “law enforcement deserves every tool and partners they need to keep Hoosiers safe,” he previously told IndyStar.

But multiple Democrats objected to the broad authority this policy would grant the governor to decide when an emergency warrants military police’s involvement. Indiana law allows the governor to summon the guard to active duty for reasons including invasions, public disasters, breach of the peace and, most sweepingly, “any other time the governor considers necessary.”

Amid President Donald Trump’s controversial National Guard deployments nationwide, critics worry a governor could abuse this power in the name of being tough on crime, potentially setting off dangerous encounters with residents. In Tennessee, for instance, where the Republican governor deployed guardsmen to Democrat-ruled Memphis to fight crime, a judge later ruled that crime rates there did not warrant an emergency response under the state’s constitution.

“It’s so subjective: What does [the governor] find to be an emergency for which he could call up the Guard? Even though violent crime has fallen precipitously in Indianapolis, for political reasons, does he think the state of public safety in Indianapolis constitutes an emergency?” State Rep. Mitch Gore, an Indianapolis Democrat and captain at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office who voted against the bill, told IndyStar.

Gore and other critics also said that National Guard members haven’t worked to build community trust the way that local police departments have. In diverse cities like Indianapolis, residents are likely to feel safer interacting with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department than guardsmen who may not share their experiences and don’t report to local elected officials.

“I think everybody wants to be safe, but there’s also just the respect for rights and individual liberties, even in a chaotic situation such as an emergency or a riot,” said Marshawn Wolley, policy director for the African American Coalition of Indianapolis, an advocacy organization made up of local civic groups. “I think the concern would be whether or not the National Guard would have that same level of both training and understanding of policing expectations in this community or any other community for that matter.”

Other bills target prosecutors, civilian-led police oversight

A handful of other bills aim to reshape aspects of criminal justice in Indianapolis more directly.

The most significant examples target Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears, whom Republican critics frequently decry as too lenient on crime. Ireland is pushing a constitutional amendment that would allow the General Assembly to impeach elected judges and prosecutors for “crime, incapacity or negligence.”

Another proposal, Senate Bill 145, would require the governor to appoint a special prosecutor who would have primary authority to prosecute crimes committed in the Mile Square area of downtown Indianapolis, starting in 2027. The bill would also force Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett to form a power-sharing agreement between state police and IMPD, or else cede all control over law enforcement in the special district come 2027.

The bill says the state must step in to combat public safety challenges that “negatively impact tourism and economic development” downtown. The author, State Sen. Michael Young, a Republican who represents parts of Marion and Hancock counties, was not made available for an interview.

Calling the proposal “extreme,” Hogsett spokeswoman Aliya Wishner said “the notion that the state would take over public safety responsibilities downtown is a step too far.” Overall, Indianapolis crime in 2025 fell significantly from the previous year, according to IMPD data, with murders and non-fatal shooting investigations both down about 20%.

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are also proposing tweaks on hot-button topics like police reform and homelessness.

Senate Bill 284 would weaken certain civilian-led police oversight boards like one in Indianapolis, making them strictly advisory and stripping away their power to pass binding rules. Senate Bill 285, which will be discussed in committee on Jan. 14, would make street homelessness a misdemeanor punishable with a $500 fine or up to 60 days in jail.

Critics like Wolley worry how such bills could further erode trust between police and vulnerable communities.

“The community has worked hard with IMPD to arrive at a consensus standard on what policing should be,” Wolley said. “I think that’s important for any community, so that they are not being policed but rather being served by the police and actually protected.”

Email Indianapolis City Hall Reporter Jordan Smith at JTSmith@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @jordantsmith09 and Bluesky @jordanaccidentally.bsky.social.

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