Briggs: Indianapolis' MLS war sends us back to Amazon HQ2 hell

The war over professional soccer's future in Indianapolis comes down to this: a lot of overconfident men making moves against other overconfident men.

Each side thinks it has leverage — and they're both right. That's why the conflict between Indy Eleven owner Ersal Ozdemir and Mayor Joe Hogsett is ratcheting up with blistering statements, campaign ads and robotexts even as the right outcome is as obvious as a header.

Here's what should happen: Hogsett and Ozdemir need to find common ground, and fast. The city is pursuing MLS with or without Ozdemir. It would be better for everyone, especially Ozdemir but also the city, if Ozdemir came on board.

For now, though, each side is acting childish. Indianapolis' unsolicited offer to buy the land where Eleven Park was supposed to have been built was a head-scratcher. The method of delivery was an insult.

Doyel: MLS 'is on a rocket trajectory' but political nonsense could end Indy's only chance

Sorry about your soccer dream!

Offering to acquire Ozdemir's land might be a reasonable step. The issue is how it happened. The city sent a letter from Dan Parker, Hogsett's chief of staff, which twists the knife over the existence of human remains buried at the proposed Eleven Park site.

The letter says, essentially, "Sorry about your soccer dream! Least we can do is take that property off your hands for all your trouble."

Ozdemir made it his life's work to build a soccer club in Indianapolis. He failed to bring MLS to town himself — and that is the most important detail to remember in why the city is moving forward with a new ownership group — but Indianapolis is nonetheless standing on Ozdemir's shoulders with an opportunity to make it happen now.

For that, the city owes Ozdemir a little courtesy.

Instead, the city just gave him the finger.

Ozdemir's Keystone Group shot one right back with a statement attributed to Jennifer Pavlik, the chief of staff and senior vice president, bemoaning that "rather than discuss facts and negotiate in good faith, city officials would rather spread misinformation through press releases and play games with your tax dollars."

Briggs: Human remains and helicopters cloud Indianapolis' MLS pursuit

Logic vs. egos

Logic is no match for the egos and emotions of overconfident men.

Hogsett is confident he has MLS, Gov. Eric Holcomb and, well, reality on his side. He doesn't seem to think he needs Ozdemir.

Reality favors building a soccer stadium at the site of the downtown heliport. As I've written before, and IndyStar's Gregg Doyel has written more recently, that is the whole ballgame.

This is the choice: The City-County Council can vote June 3 to lay the foundation for building a soccer stadium at the downtown heliport site, and Indianapolis will have a better than 50-50 shot at attracting an MLS team. Or, the council can reject that plan based on bruised egos and feelings, and MLS will probably skip Indianapolis forever.

Simple.

Ozdemir has gone scorched earth to defeat the city and keep alive his doomed plan for Eleven Park. That proposed mixed-use project centered around a 20,000-seat soccer stadium at the former Diamond Chain site along the White River, which, before Diamond Chain, was a cemetery.

That cemetery is the biggest hangup. Many sources have told me (and Doyel) MLS is never going to expand to a city that wants to put a stadium on top of a cemetery. It just isn't going to happen. Full stop. No debate.

The city's purchase offer letter referred to "as many as 650 remains still located on just one acre of the site." Keystone Group in its counter-statement pledged to "correct the record as it relates to our ongoing efforts to work with the community to offer peaceful reinterment for those buried in a site that for over a century has been disregarded and disrespected."

Sorry, but if you're explaining body counts on the site of your proposed future soccer stadium, you're losing. Ozdemir, Keystone Group and Indy Eleven are acting on ego. And they're losing.

Starting to look a lot like HQ2

Ozdemir does not have reality on his side, but he does have the law. The city made real, legally enforceable commitments to partner with Ozdemir on Eleven Park. Even if the City-County Council gives Hogsett his vote next month and Indianapolis moves forward with a competitive MLS application, Ozdemir can sue and drag out this war for a long time.

Indianapolis' MLS thirst is starting to head down the abandoned road of HQ2, the cursed Amazon sweepstakes that whipped cities into frenzies competing for one of the world's largest companies.

Amazon included Indianapolis on a list of 20 cities with a chance to land the so-called HQ2 in 2018. At the time, Ambrose Property Group was working on plans to redevelop the former GM stamping plant site — also along the White River — which happened to be one of the best shovel-ready properties in America to host a giant new headquarters.

By the end of 2018, though, Amazon had passed on Indianapolis and revealed it would never build an HQ2 as promised. By 2019, Ambrose walked away from the development altogether and said it would sell the property instead of developing it. Indianapolis made a ham-handed threat to take the site through eminent domain and Ambrose sued.

It was a nasty, bitter and wholly avoidable legal battle. (It's also an example of how developers bail on commitments all the time, which is why cities should be aggressive about walking away from developments that aren't viable.)

Can we avoid a sequel now? That's going to take some pride swallowing on the city's side.

The right move for Indianapolis is to lock down plans to build a soccer stadium at the heliport site and go get an MLS team. That's probably going to happen.

Hogsett and Ozdemir can either make people feel good about that, or they can keep making the city's pursuit of MLS feel as joyful as a political attack ad.

Contact James Briggs at 317-444-4732 or james.briggs@indystar.com. Follow him on X and Threads at @JamesEBriggs.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis' offer to buy the Eleven Park site insults Ersal Ozdemir