INDIANAPOLIS – Bankers Life Fieldhouse is getting a facelift, and that means the Indiana Fever will hit the road.

The Pacers will demolish the parking garage north of the 20-year-old arena and take over the parking lots east and west of the building to create an expanded plaza with ice skating and basketball hoops. They’ll upgrade the entry pavilion as well, and redo the seating bowl to create standing areas at either end, where fans can mingle instead of parking themselves in a seat. Pacers Sports and Entertainment senior vice president Mel Raines says younger fans want a more social experience at games and concerts.

Construction won’t affect the Pacers’ season or the N-B-A All-Star game in 2021, but the fieldhouse won’t book any summer concerts for the next two years, and the Fever will have a temporary home elsewhere the next two seasons. Where the Fever will play is still undetermined. Raines says the hope is that the Fever can return to the fieldhouse for at least part of the 2022 season.

Pacers Sports and Entertainment plans to close the fieldhouse for the summer and begin work on the arena once the Pacers are out of the playoffs next year. It’ll reopen in time for the Pacers’ opener in October, then repeat the pattern in 2021 for the outdoor work on the plaza. The team hasn’t decided where the Fever will play.

 

photo courtesy Bankers Life Fieldhouse