On January 26, 2013, the North American Soccer League (NASL) announced the formation of Indianapolis’ professional soccer team known as the Indy Eleven. Named for both 11th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the and the significance of the number to the (first run in 1911), the team was funded by owner Ersal Ozdemir, President and CEO of Indianapolis-based Keystone Construction and Keystone Realty Group. The team’s colors are red, white, and blue. The dominant color in the team’s logo is blue and features a checkerboard pattern to honor Indianapolis’ racing roots. In addition, the team’s crest features imagery of Lady Victory from .
The team played its first game in the NASL on April 12, 2014, in front of over 11,000 fans. The Indy Eleven’s debut created so much attention in the Circle City that the team became the first NASL team with a waitlist for season tickets after selling more than 7,000. Their debut game ended in a 1-1 draw with the Carolina Railhawks at the IU Michael A. Carroll Track and Soccer Stadium on the campus, the franchise’s home through 2017.
Under the leadership of manager Juergen Sommer, the team showed improvement over its 2014 and 2015 seasons, but it also never rose above the middle of the pack in the NASL standings. In an effort to improve the team’s record, Tim Regan became the interim team manager for the back half of the 2015 season, and Tim Hankinson became manager the next year.
In 2016, the Indy Eleven went undefeated to become the NASL Spring Champion. In its last game of the 2016 spring season, the Eleven overcame a three-goal tiebreaker in the NASL standings to clinch the title. The team had continued success throughout 2016 as it finished second in the fall season and later made it to the NASL playoff final, known as the Soccer Bowl, where it ultimately lost to the New York Cosmos.
During the 2017 campaign, the team fell back to the middle of the pack in NASL standings. The Indy Eleven announced three major changes for the 2018 season: the team hired a new manager in Martin Rennie; it moved from the NASL to the United Soccer League; and it shifted its home games to (the home of the ) to account for its increased growth and success as an organization. In 2019, the Indy Eleven made it to third place in their conference and appeared in the conference final playoff game.
The Indy Eleven have made numerous bids to join Major League Soccer (the United States’ premier soccer league) since 2017. While the MLS had expanded to include 30 teams by the end of 2019, the Indy Eleven have yet to be accepted as a member of the league. Nevertheless, the club and its leadership have stayed committed to its desire to one day join the MLS as an expansion team. While awaiting admission to the MLS, the team has committed to a future affiliation status with the current MLS team Chicago Fire.
In 2019 Indy Eleven owner Ozdemir proposed a $550 million project called Eleven Park. His plan included a mixed-use development anchored by a 20,000-seat soccer stadium. The project called for $400 million in private investment in restaurants, 100,000 square feet of retail space, 150,000 square feet of offices, a 200-room boutique hotel, and 600 apartments as well as the $150 million stadium and other public investments. Ozmedir has been pitching the idea of a soccer stadium for his team since 2015.
In April 2019 State lawmakers had debated providing public support for the stadium by tying it to the team’s ability to enter the MLS by 2022. But at the last minute the General Assembly stripped the MLS requirement from a bill and passed it. The legislation calls for taxes collected from the stadium development that will pay back 80 percent of the stadium’s cost. The Indy Eleven will have to pay 20 percent and cover any shortfalls in the cost.
In response to the effects of the 2020 COVID19 pandemic, the Indy Eleven returned to Michael A. Carroll Stadium for the 2021 season. In June 2022, the team, in collaboration with Keystone Group, announced that it had acquired over 20 acres of land in downtown Indianapolis on property bordered by West Street, Kentucky Avenue, and the White River, where the had operated for nearly a century. The complex, expected to open in 2025, will include retail, restaurants, apartments and office space in addition to a stadium designed to accommodate men’s and women’s professional soccer, across, football, rugby, and field hockey.
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