Indianapolis, IN
An MLS team would be huge for youth soccer in Indianapolis
Mayor Hogsett announces pursuit of MLS team: ‘Today we begin our pursuit of the world’s game’
Mayor Joe Hogsett announces the city’s pursuit of a MLS team.
Brian Haenchen/IndyStar
Indianapolis has a fantastic opportunity to land a Major League Soccer team for our city. The impact of bringing an MLS team to Indianapolis cannot be overstated for our soccer and athletics communities, for our city and our state.
Attracting an MLS team would put Indiana on the map for soccer. MLS is a multibillion-dollar industry with fans across the globe. The average MLS team is worth $678 million, generates $66 million in revenue, and attracts an average 22,000 fans per match.
Soccer is among the most popular sport on the planet. Typical Super Bowls have 200 million viewers. FIFA World Cup has 1.5 billion viewers. U.S. soccer is growing as big-name players like Lionel Messi enter the league. These players are driving up revenues as well. Ticket prices are up 585% for games where Messi plays.
An Indy MLS team would mean more visitors to our city, a tremendous impact on downtown businesses, new economic development opportunities, and jobs. The value goes far beyond economics and into our communities. Securing an MLS team would have a profound impact on resources and access available for our soccer community, particularly our youth.
As president of the largest Indianapolis club serving 3,000 children ages 2-20 each season and generating $8 million in local economic impact, I see every day the positive benefits soccer involvement has on our youth, their families, and the community, especially in traditional underserved communities.
As it has in other cities, an MLS team in Indianapolis would foster increased interest and participation in youth soccer. It would bring expanded resources, partnership and mentorship opportunities, and sponsorship and other funding sources to promote soccer for our youth. This creates excitement, momentum, and access for Indianapolis children.
Soccer involvement promotes health and wellness, connectivity and friendships, goal setting, and being part of a team. As our children become stronger, their communities become stronger. United Soccer Alliance of Indiana has developed fine young men and women since 1979. USA of Indiana has produced three MLS All Stars: Ray Gaddis, Perry Kitchen and Matt Hedges. Lori Lindsey, former Pike Youth Soccer Club player, played for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team.
Indianapolis is making a name for itself as a premier sports city. Bringing in MLS is an obvious next step, and it couldn’t be a better time to do it. Several major global soccer events are coming to the U.S. over the next few years. FIFA selected the U.S. to host the 2026 World Cup and the U.S. will host the 2024 Copa America. Indianapolis and Indiana can be part of the excitement.
On behalf of our soccer community, I urge our city leaders and partners to wholeheartedly pursue an MLS team for Indianapolis. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity and we need to seize it.
Thomas J. Geisse is president of the Community Through Youth Sport Foundation, the United Soccer Alliance of Indiana and the Pike Youth Soccer Club.
INDIANAPOLIS — One person is in critical condition following a shooting on Indy’s near east side.
According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, around 8:10 p.m., officers were called to the 2000 block of East Washington Street on reports of a person shot.
Upon arrival, police located a 50-year-old man with injuries consistent with a gunshot wound.
He is currently reported to be in extremely critical condition.
No additional information has been made available at the time of this article’s publication.
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission on June 17 gave AES the nod to raise electricity rates enough to earn an additional $71 million each year, a decision that drew reproof from Indiana lawmakers who called it another blow to cost-burdened consumers.
The approved rate represents less than half of the $192 million increase that AES initially requested. It’s also less than the $91 million increase proposed in an October settlement agreement between AES, the city of Indianapolis and major electricity consumers like Kroger and Walmart.
But the new rate is still significantly more than what the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, the state agency representing ratepayers in the case, recommended in September. The OUCC’s proposal would have capped AES’s annual operating revenue at $21 million less than the current level.
The rate increase authorizes AES to earn a total of nearly $2 billion each year, or an estimated $384 million in profit.
The higher base rate comes as a double whammy for Indianapolis-area households, who are already paying more for electricity this summer after AES temporarily raised rates to account for higher-than-anticipated fuel costs during last winter’s storms. The increase also arrives against the backdrop of inflation, which rose to a three-year high last month, and surging gas prices due to the war in Iran.
Gov. Mike Braun wrote in a Wednesday post to X that he was “deeply disappointed” by the IURC’s approval of the rate increase.
“Hoosiers have spent years tightening their belts and making tough financial decisions,” Braun wrote. “It’s time for utility companies to do the same.”
The IURC’s decision also drew fire from the other side of the aisle. In a June 17 news release, five Democrats representing Indianapolis in the state Senate – J.D. Ford, Andrea Hunley, La Keisha Jackson, Fady Qaddoura, and Greg Taylor – chastised Indiana’s Republican supermajority for failing to rein in rising utility costs.
“Hoosiers pay more. Monopoly utilities collect more. And the leaders in the super-majority who promise affordability over and over again show those are just empty words,” the news release said. “Instead, they continue to defend a system that takes more and more out of our paychecks.”
The consumer advocacy group Citizens Action Coalition also slammed the rate increase. Ben Inskeep, CAC’s program director, said the decision left him “less optimistic that this commission is willing to do things differently and to actually hold utilities accountable.”
He said the IURC should have penalized AES for issues that plagued customers after the utility updated its billing system in 2023, including duplicated withdrawals for the same monthly bill.
The rate increase will take effect in two phases, with rates going up in July 2026 and January 2027. AES officials anticipate the hikes “will be less than $5 per month per phase” for a household that uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per month, according to a Wednesday news release from the utility.
“The IURC’s decision reflects a thorough, transparent process and balances the need for continued investment in the electric system with a focus on customer affordability,” the news release stated.
Under a state law that Braun signed in February, AES cannot ask for another increase to its base rate until January 2030 — though electricity bills could still go up for other reasons, like the fuel adjustment charge hitting consumers this month.
Three members of the five-member IURC signed off on the rate increase: Andy Zay, David Veleta, and David Ziegner. Commissioner Bob Deig dissented. Commissioner Anthony Swinger recused himself from the decision because he worked on the AES rate case for the OUCC before he was appointed to the IURC by Braun in January.
“None of this was taken lightly,” Zay, the IURC’s chair, said at the Wednesday hearing, adding that the commission and its staff had carefully weighed concerns about affordability. The commissioners did not go into further detail at the hearing.
But the commission’s order shows some of the debates that played out during the rate case. One point of contention was AES’s authorized return on equity — that is, how much the utility can earn each year in profits. Other disputes hinged on how AES forecasts its operating expenses.
The OUCC accused AES of including more than 100 “phantom hires,” vacant positions it did not necessarily intend to fill in its calculations. Last year, AES said that the rising costs of vegetation management, or trimming trees around power lines, also drove the need to raise rates. The OUCC recommended keeping vegetation management costs flat.
One factor that’s not driving higher prices? Data centers.
AES does not currently provide service to any data centers and did not include them in its calculations, AES president Brandi Davis-Handy said in testimony before the IURC.
Tilly Robinson is a Pulliam fellow for the Indianapolis Star. She can be reached at tilly.robinson@indystar.com.
Interactive radar | Weather alerts by county
WATCH LIVE COVERAGE
(WRTV) — A tornado watch has been issued through 1 a.m. EDT Thursday for much of Indiana, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center said.
The watch area covers 47 of Indiana’s 92 counties, and includes Indianapolis and its surrounding counties.
Counties in the watch area are Bartholomew, Blackford, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Daviess, Decatur, Delaware, Fountain, Grant, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Huntington, Jackson, Jay, Jennings, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Martin, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Owen, Parke, Putnam, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, Sullivan, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Vermillion, Vigo, Wabash, Warren, and White.
WRTV Meteorologist Ryan Morse says Wednesday afternoon’s rain was the first of two rounds coming to the Hoosier state. A line of supercells were expected to form in Illinois and travel into central Indiana.
In neighboring Illinois, dozens of counties are under a tornado watch until 10 p.m. CDT/11 p.m. EST.
All threats of severe weather were on the table: damaging wind, strong tornadoes, large hail, and flooding.
Severe storms should exit Indiana in the early morning hours.
WISH-TV Meteorologist Keith Gibson says people should have multiple ways of getting alerts and have electronic devices fully charged in case they lose power.
The next chance for rain after these storms could be on Saturday.
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