The performances are not just in the water at the American Olympic trials in Indianapolis. By making the bold choice to organize the competitions in an American football stadium, the American federation succeeded in its bet. After breaking the attendance record for an indoor swimming event in the first evening session on June 15, with 20.689 spectators, it did even better on Wednesday June 19 with 22.209 people at the Lucas Oil Stadium in the capital of Indiana. During the first five evenings, the attendance never fell below 15.000 spectators, more than the best sessions of the trials in 2021, before the Tokyo Games, contested in a more usual setting in Omaha, Nebraska.
Indianapolis, IN
‘OMG macaroni on point.’ Shaquille O’Neal shares his love of Indy’s Kountry Kitchen
![‘OMG macaroni on point.’ Shaquille O’Neal shares his love of Indy’s Kountry Kitchen](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/02/16/PIND/72623705007-img-0342.jpg?auto=webp&crop=4031,2269,x0,y377&format=pjpg&width=1200)
The Indianapolis food scene is getting major attention during NBA All-Star Weekend.
First it was food critic Keith Lee reviewing Chicken Scratch and warning of scammers trying to take advantage of his following.
Next it was NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Shape and Indy’s own Mike Epps settling their beef at Kountry Kitchen.
Not to be outdone, we give you Shaquille O’Neal.
Shaq spread the Kountry Kitchen love Friday night on X (formerly Twitter), saying the 1831 N. College Ave. restaurant “the best soul food spot ever.”
“OMG macaroni on point,” wrote the NBA icon who’s in town for All-Star festivities that include his analyst duties for the NBA on TNT and his own DJ show.
Shaq’s musical alter-ego, DJ Diesel, performed alongside Machine Gun Kelly during a Feb. 15 event. DJ Diesel had been set to perform in the Indianapolis 500’s Snake Pit last year, but he was forced to cancel due to his TV commitments.
NBA All-Star weekend continues through Sunday’s 8 p.m. game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
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Indianapolis, IN
A look back at the US swimming trials, which were a big hit in Indianapolis
![A look back at the US swimming trials, which were a big hit in Indianapolis](https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/85d020f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/7516x3946+0+533/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fewscripps-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb1%2Fbb%2F3121038e47b193fc6e52b687de5b%2Fap24175008011421.jpg)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The crowds were large and raucous. The biggest stars largely lived up to their billing. And plenty of promising young swimmers emerged over nine days in Indiana. The U.S. Olympic swimming trials wrapped up with the final two events at Lucas Oil Stadium, rounding out the roster for the Paris Games. Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel and Simone Manuel are among those who will be going for gold in Paris, joined by potential new standouts such as Kate Douglass and Thomas Heilman. Setting up a temporary pool inside the home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts took the event to a whole new level. Nearly 300,000 fans turned out. The set-up drew rave reviews from the athletes.
Indianapolis, IN
Indianapolis breaks its own record – Francs Jeux
![Indianapolis breaks its own record – Francs Jeux](https://www.francsjeux.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/YNTIQI4I6FGGPLYLZEEGOCHGAI.jpg)
Indianapolis, IN
‘Red Carpet Treatment’ of Indianapolis Olympic Trials Could Open Door for Other Big Venues
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‘Red Carpet Treatment’ of Indianapolis Olympic Trials Could Open Door for Other Big Venues
U.S. Olympic Trials won’t be the last swimming event held in an NFL stadium. World Aquatics made that official on Friday.
The success of the event at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium opens the door for more swim meets to expand beyond their previous attendance limits, USA Swimming President and CEO Tim Hinchey said Friday.
Hinchey said that the meet in Indianapolis has exceeded expectations on several fronts, including the target for ticket sales. USA Swimming had aimed to set the record for attendance at an indoor swim meet, which it did with 20,689 spectators Saturday’s opening night and 22,209 Wednesday. Hinchey also aimed for a nighty average of around 16,000, using the 2016 Rio Olympics as its guide. The attendance is well over that: Three of the first five prelims sessions topped 16,000, and only one finals session has fallen under it.
“We’ve surpassed that significantly,” Hinchey said. “We’ll do a lot of debrief when we get down into the analysis that we’ll share with everybody openly about how many tickets we sold and how we did it. One of the unique learnings here was the 17 individual sessions versus what we’ve had previously, it gave people a chance to really pick and choose what they wanted.
“We’ve never had walk-up before. We’ve never had tickets on sale the day of before. So we’re watching those trends quite a bit to see what we’ve been doing. That has been a pleasant surprise, because selling those nine-day packages is really consistent with the endemic swim families that we’ve done previously. So we kind of had that audience early, just like we had a lot.”
The Indianapolis program is much vaster than in the past. The COVID-19-affected 2021 Trials notwithstanding, USA Swimming has gone from eight days, 15 sessions and around 9,800 tickets to sell in Omaha in 2016 to nine days, 17 sessions and a capacity up to 32,000 spectators. Add in some 50 suites and a set of premium options and inclusive packages, and USA Swimming has gotten creative with its offerings.
Hinchey said his big concern entering the meet was the ticket-selling infrastructure, and USA Swimming has leaned on the Indiana Sports Corporation to bolster their efforts there. The growth of walk-up sales and other activations like the fan zone, which is drawing around 10,000 visitors a day, are a big part of what’s making the event successful.
“It’s incredibly important to me,” Hinchey said of the sponsorship with the city and Indiana Sports Corporation. “I think they’ve shown that this week, I think some of the feedback we’ve received more than anything has been, just fan reactions walking to the airport, all lanes lead to Indy, looking at Georgia Street. When they were talking about the kind of activations they were going to do, we were incredibly excited. And I feel like for the first time in a long time, our sport’s gotten the red carpet treatment here as hosts.”
The proof of concept of a temporary pool in a larger stadium opens the possibility for more. Hinchey said that the request for proposal process for 2024 trials involved four finalists: Indianapolis, Omaha, St. Louis and Minneapolis. The latter two candidates have visited Indy this week, and the kind of infrastructure that makes Indianapolis work is the kind that a handful of major cities have to host such an event.
Hinchey stresses that it doesn’t have to be a football stadium. But with this step taken, it would be a priority to push the momentum toward something as big or bigger next time around.
“Once you take something to the next level, it’s hard to kind of go backwards,” he said. “So I think we’ve set an expectation. And there’s a lot of things we’ve learned from this, there’s a lot of things we can do better. And I’m excited about that prospect.”
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