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While I think you are way overstating the importance of hosting the Indy 500, I think Indy is a pretty nice city. I spent some time with some friends there a few years ago and we stayed downtown, Monument Circle was great and it was fun to walk around. I'm curious, what would you homers say are some defining characteristics of the city? What makes it great, and please don't say the ability to have a successful NASCAR race or super bowl..I'm talking everyday, livability stuff.
All in all I'd put it up there in my Top 10 capitals, but as far as I can tell it doesn't offer anything that would propel it to the Top 5, let alone the top so I'm curious to hear from some locals. Well-reasoned opinions only please, you can save the overt cheerleading.
First I want to ask, what criteria are all of you looking at with regards to a state capital? That's never been stated as far as I can tell. Is it just one of those regular city v city things in which blah or is it more intrinsic like efficiency in how the state is run, importance in decision making within the region, etc.
With regards to your particular question, I'm not native but you really can't try to say you can't include Nascar and Indianapolis as an example because racing is a big part of life here. It's not just the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400. There's also MotoGP which in and of itself draws about 200k for the event, NHRA Championships and so many smaller series events that take place here including several kid circuits. Racing is in the Indianapolis blood. Other than that, two things tend to really stick out, sports and hospitality. Indianapolis loves its sports, esp. at the high school level. While Hoosier Hysteria isn't what it used to be prior to IHSAA doing something completely stupid and creating class basketball for the suburban every kid wins a trophy mentality, it is still by far one of the best state bb tournaments nationwide. HS football also has become big thx to Peyton Manning. It's not texas level or Ohio level for that matter but it's getting up there.
Hoosier hospitality really isn't some slogan. It's not uncommon for people to go completely out of their way to help you so it was not an act during SB where all of the out of towners were saying how nice everyone was and helpful. Politically moderate city, not to conservative yet not too liberal in thought either but tends to be more fiscally conservative than most cities within the top 20 population wise.
It's the quintessential midwestern value city where it's great to raise a family (one of its known pluses), has enough nightlife for those still into that and enough art/culture for those who've moved past that stage in life.
First I want to ask, what criteria are all of you looking at with regards to a state capital? That's never been stated as far as I can tell. Is it just one of those regular city v city things in which blah or is it more intrinsic like efficiency in how the state is run, importance in decision making within the region, etc.
With regards to your particular question, I'm not native but you really can't try to say you can't include Nascar and Indianapolis as an example because racing is a big part of life here. It's not just the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400. There's also MotoGP which in and of itself draws about 200k for the event, NHRA Championships and so many smaller series events that take place here including several kid circuits. Racing is in the Indianapolis blood. Other than that, two things tend to really stick out, sports and hospitality. Indianapolis loves its sports, esp. at the high school level. While Hoosier Hysteria isn't what it used to be prior to IHSAA doing something completely stupid and creating class basketball for the suburban every kid wins a trophy mentality, it is still by far one of the best state bb tournaments nationwide. HS football also has become big thx to Peyton Manning. It's not texas level or Ohio level for that matter but it's getting up there.
Hoosier hospitality really isn't some slogan. It's not uncommon for people to go completely out of their way to help you so it was not an act during SB where all of the out of towners were saying how nice everyone was and helpful. Politically moderate city, not to conservative yet not too liberal in thought either but tends to be more fiscally conservative than most cities within the top 20 population wise.
It's the quintessential midwestern value city where it's great to raise a family (one of its known pluses), has enough nightlife for those still into that and enough art/culture for those who've moved past that stage in life.
Yes, it's still a city vs. city thread like all the others, only difference is we're restricting the cities to be compared to state capitals only. I have no interest in discussing the ins & outs of the state gov't, efficiency etc.
Thanks for your input, that was well articulated. The reason I suggested not including the Indy/Nascar stuff was because 1) I'm more interested in hearing about the day-to-day living stuff, which wouldn't really include large but short events, and 2) another Indy homer was just bragging about how the Indy500 has 400k visitors per year, which makes it sounds like it's really not something the locals play a huge part in. Hope that makes sense.
Thanks again for your response. Like I said I enjoyed the city, I can definitely see the midwestern values/sports emphasis being the sort of 'calling card' of the city, which is what I was getting at. Unfortunately a couple of homers have been trying to act like Indy is the best at everything, so I'm trying to bring it back down to earth and get the real scoop
Yes, it's still a city vs. city thread like all the others, only difference is we're restricting the cities to be compared to state capitals only. I have no interest in discussing the ins & outs of the state gov't, efficiency etc.
Thanks for your input, that was well articulated. The reason I suggested not including the Indy/Nascar stuff was because 1) I'm more interested in hearing about the day-to-day living stuff, which wouldn't really include large but short events, and 2) another Indy homer was just bragging about how the Indy500 has 400k visitors per year, which makes it sounds like it's really not something the locals play a huge part in. Hope that makes sense.
Thanks again for your response. Like I said I enjoyed the city, I can definitely see the midwestern values/sports emphasis being the sort of 'calling card' of the city, which is what I was getting at. Unfortunately a couple of homers have been trying to act like Indy is the best at everything, so I'm trying to bring it back down to earth and get the real scoop
I am not a racing fan, though IndyCar has piqued my interest on occasion. I have never been to a race at IMS, in fact, I've only been there for the Humane Society's "Mutt Strutt." I also don't particularly care about other people's opinions of the city. I just want to point out that visiting the factories on Raymond Street in no way qualifies anyone to debate what type of city Indianapolis it. The same goes for any city. No one goes to the factories in Pittsburgh, and only the factories, and calls the city dirty. It is ignorant.
I say that all to say this: Indianapolis is a nice place to live. The Cultural Trail is a great new ammenity linking different parts of downtown Indianapolis. The Canal is a nice place for a jog when the weather is nice. Indianapolis has some great parks. Garfield Park, Eagle Creek Park, Southeast Way, Ellenberger, etc. Indianapolis has an improving food scene; emphasis on improving. There are some very nice residential areas in the city, I know Indianapolis gets knocked for its neighborhoods (and some of that is well deserved), but the neighborhoods we do have I would put up against most neighborhoods in other cities that are comparable to Indianapolis (think Kansas City, Columbus OH, etc.).
This does not make Indianapolis a world class city that kicks everyone else's a**. and it does not make Indianapolis the best state capital. It does make Indianapolis a nice enough place to live, and that is all that really matters to me. Don't know if that answers your question or not.
I'm somewhat proud, and totally not surprised, that my hometown (Lansing, MI) has not been mentioned at all in either direction. We like to fly under the radar!
Have you ever been to Charleston? The place is pretty awesome for a small town. I visit Sacramento pretty frequently and I find Charleston far exceeds anything Sacramento has to offer (except for the NBA).
Lived in South Charleston for a while. The capital building/complex in itself is something else. It's HUGE and dwarfs capital buildings for any city I've seen. Then they top it off with the gold dome. Good call on Charleston. I thought I would be the only one with that on my list.
Indy is better than many if not all other Major US cities at hosting Large Events.
Tell me another city that can host an Indy 500 every year with 400,000 people coming as well as Indy?
As you said Super Bowl 46 went well and im glad it did too brings pride to my hometown. Plus being the First Northern city to be on the Super Bowl host rotation is nice.
Plus i see the Pan American games coming again and maybe even someday an olympics.
Don't over do it man....OLYMPICS?!?! And while we're at it, Super Bowls were held in Pontiac in 1982 and Detroit 2006, Minneapolis-St.Paul in 1992, THEN Indy in 2012. Sorry, but Indy was the 4th northern site for a super bowl. Other than that, it's truly a GREAT town. It is.
Don't over do it man....OLYMPICS?!?! And while we're at it, Super Bowls were held in Pontiac in 1982 and Detroit 2006, Minneapolis-St.Paul in 1992, THEN Indy in 2012. Sorry, but Indy was the 4th northern site for a super bowl. Other than that, it's truly a GREAT town. It is.
Detroit had to build 2 stadiums for 2 Super Bowls.
All Indy has to do is bid and get another Super Bowl to be better than any northern city at getting the event.
Lucas Oil Stadium getting more than 1 Super Bowl which it likely will will make the 700M dollars more worth the investment
400,000 i said.........
Heres the math, 267,000 seats. then the infield area raises the capacity of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to over 400,000
You will NEVER get official attendance figures though as the Hulman family doesn't release them. Indy locals know that though
but its safe to assume its nearly 400,000 people total both fans and workers for the event every may.
If you havent been to Indianapolis you need to visit before offering opinions.
Bristol Tennessee has about 30k for a population. The Bristol Motor Speedway SEATS 155K. If Indy's 267K seats =400K total, I'm gonna assume Bristol's 155K seats=250K-300K at the track for race day. Bristol has 30K population roughly! Now I will say, it's part of the Tri-Cities Metro area which is 450-500K between Johnson City, Kingsport, and Bristol.
On the other hand, Knoxville has 180K city, 600K metro. Every football Saturday they pack 108K in Neyland Stadium. And they do it every single game. Again, these #'s might not = the numbers of 400K. But you gotta look at the size of Indy. IMO, what's the difference in Indy hosting 400K when it's a big city, and Knoxville hosting 100K+. Or Lil Ole' Bristol having a quarter million in their po-dunk town?
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