Lucas Oil Stadium


Lucas Oil Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It replaced the RCA Dome as the home field of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts and opened on August 16, 2008. The stadium was constructed to allow the removal of the RCA Dome and expansion of the Indiana Convention Center on its site. The stadium is on the south side of South Street, a block south of the former site of the RCA Dome. In 2006, prior to the stadium's construction, Lucas Oil Products secured the naming rights for the stadium at a cost of $122 million over 20 years. The venue also serves as the current home for the United Soccer League's Indy Eleven, as well as the home of the Drum Corps International Championships since 2009.
The architectural firm HKS, Inc. was responsible for the stadium's design, with Walter P Moore working as the Structural Engineer of Record. The stadium features a retractable roof and a large retractable window on one end, thus allowing the Colts and the Eleven to play both indoors and outdoors. The field surface was originally FieldTurf but was replaced in 2018 with Shaw Sports Momentum Pro. The exterior of the new stadium is faced with a reddish-brown brick trimmed with Indiana limestone, similar to several other sports venues in the area, including Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Hinkle Fieldhouse, and the Fairgrounds Coliseum.

Features

Lucas Oil Stadium has a seating capacity of 67,000 and covers approximately. The stadium offers 139 suites, two club lounges, two exhibit halls and 12 meeting rooms. There are also 360-degree ribbon boards and two tall HD video boards. An underground walkway directly connects the stadium to the Indiana Convention Center.
Other features include:
The stadium's retractable roof can open or close in 9 to 11 minutes. It is composed of two panels that each weigh.

NFL rules for roof opening

The home team determines if the roof is to be opened or closed 90 minutes before kickoff.

Retractable window

The retractable north window offers a view of downtown Indianapolis during games, concerts and other events due to the stadium's angled position on the city block.

Gate sponsorship

The four gates leading into Lucas Oil Stadium are each named for sponsoring corporation: Lucas Oil, Verizon, and Huntington Bank. The ground-level concourses of their respective gates feature banners and floor coverings with the corporations' logos, advertisements and merchandise displays.

Events

Annual events include:
Upcoming events include:
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Significant past events included:
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The first games played at Lucas Oil Stadium occurred on August 22, 2008, and were part of the PeyBack Classic, featuring Indiana high school football games between Noblesville High School and Fishers High School in Game 1, followed by New Palestine High School and Whiteland Community High School in Game 2. On November 26, 2008, Cardinal Ritter High School became the first high school to win a state championship on the field, beating Sheridan High School 34–27 for the class A state title. The Colts faced the Chicago Bears in a rematch of Super Bowl XLI in their first regular season game in the stadium.

Soccer

The stadium hosted its first soccer game on August 1, 2013, when Chelsea played Inter Milan in a first-round game of the International Champions Cup, drawing 41,983 fans.
DateWinning TeamResultLosing TeamTournamentSpectators
August 1, 2013 Chelsea2–0 Inter Milan2013 International Champions Cup First Round41,983

As of 2018, Lucas Oil Stadium serves as the home field for the United Soccer League's Indy Eleven, replacing the venue the team used while in the North American Soccer League, Carroll Stadium.

Entertainment

announced on August 9, 2006, that it would move its corporate offices to Indianapolis and that the DCI World Championships would be the inaugural event for the stadium and would be held at Lucas Oil Stadium every year through 2018. In 2015, Drum Corps International and the city of Indianapolis announced a 10-year contract extension, allowing the World Championships to continue through 2028. The competition was held for the first time at Lucas Oil Stadium in 2009.
Other regular events include the Bands of America Grand National Championships and the Indiana Marching Band State Finals, both major events for the city in Marching band competitions.

Concerts

Financing

The total cost of Lucas Oil Stadium was $720 million. The stadium is being financed with funds raised by the State of Indiana and the City of Indianapolis, with the Indianapolis Colts providing $100 million. Marion County has raised taxes for food and beverage sales, auto rental taxes, innkeeper's taxes, and admission taxes for its share of the costs. Meanwhile, there has been an increase in food and beverage taxes in the eight surrounding doughnut counties and the sale of Colts license plates.
The County Commissioners of each county voted whether to levy the 1% food and beverage tax proposed by Marion County. Sweetening the deal for those counties was the fact that half of the revenue from the tax would stay in the respective county. Morgan County was the only county to turn down the offer, yet in a later vote, it levied its own 1% tax – thus keeping all of its additional generated revenue.

Budget shortfall

In August 2006, the Capital Improvement Board, which operates the stadium, estimated that daily operating expenses of the new stadium would be $10 million more per year than the RCA Dome. The board urged the Indiana General Assembly to authorize funding to cover the shortfall. The Indiana Legislature considered a bill to raise sales taxes statewide to cover the shortfall, however this plan faced stiff opposition from legislators outside the Indianapolis metro area.
The assembly ultimately authorized a tax increase in Indianapolis-Marion County. In addition, the CIB trimmed staff and cut $10 million from its budget. Still, the agency anticipated a $20 million operating deficit for Lucas Oil Stadium in 2009. Anticipated expenses are $27.7 million—far outstripping the $7.7 million CIB expects to collect from its share of revenue from stadium events. The Colts organization has been criticized for the favorable lease terms and the high percentage of revenue it can keep under the terms of its agreements with the stadium authorities and there have been calls for the team to cover the shortfalls of the CIB. The Colts responded to these criticisms in an open letter to fans on September 16, 2009.

Complications

On September 8, 2013 after the Colts defeated the Oakland Raiders in the season opener, a rail over the opposing team tunnel collapsed injuring two fans. One fan was transferred to the hospital for evaluation. No serious injuries were reported.
On September 3, 2015, three fans were injured by a bolt that fell from the roof of the stadium as it was being opened during an NFL preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals. The stadium was pronounced safe by officials, but the roof remained closed for events until a final investigation was completed as to why the bolt fell.

Construction pictures