The NBA All-Star Game is a financial boost. But the long term benefits are less tangible.

Jonathan Southern's Arts Walk mural, a basketball hoop hanging on a backboard of colorful graffiti, depicts basketball as a internationally beloved game played in neighborhoods from New York to Indianapolis and as far away as Brazil, Spain and China.

"In Indiana, we just love basketball so it's an homage to (basketball) not only here, but also everywhere," the southside resident said.

The multi-billion dollar basketball industry, built on the global love of the sport, is also one of the most accessible, available to anyone with a ball who can get to a gym or park.

And Indianapolis is banking on one of basketball's biggest events — the NBA All Star Game on Feb. 18 — to boost the economy.

There's the expected bump the three-day event will bring to the hospitality industry with tourists, V.I.P parties and community events. But the bigger payoff, say tourism experts, comes from marketing the city's businesses and artists in hopes that it will draw lucrative long-term businesses to the area.

"The long-term effects are intangible," said Kyle Anderson, an economist at Indiana University. "It's harder or impossible to measure them."

Known for its high-profile celebrity attendees and celebration of Black art and culture, All-Star Weekend is expected to draw 125,000 visitors to events in the city, including more than 50,000 from outside central Indiana.

Unlike the NCAA's March Madness and the Super Bowl, two of the biggest and most prominent national events the city has hosted, the All-Star game has a bigger global audience, said Danny Lopez, an executive for Pacers Sports and Entertainment.

"The story of Indianapolis will be on the basketball court," he said. "We're going to talk about our research 1 universities. We're going to talk about our tech scene. We're going to talk about our symphony."

Gambling it all on sports

The state and city paid the bulk of the $360 million on renovations to transform Gainbridge Fieldhouse, with cushy seats, an upgraded box office, and sleek bars, one of the biggest NBA renovation projects to date.

The pricy renovations were part of a deal to keep the Pacers in Indianapolis for the next 25 years and set the stage for the city to host one of the biggest basketball events, further cementing Indianapolis's investments in its sports industry. Since 2000, the city has built a $720 million football stadium, which helped to score the 2012 Super Bowl hosting gig for the city, and another $1 billion on the Indy Eleven soccer stadium being built just southwest of downtown.

Once the Indy Eleven Park opens, the city will have professional basketball, football, baseball, and soccer all within walking distance of downtown, a feature unique to Indianapolis, Anderson said.

Economists have been skeptical that public investments in stadiums offer good returns for taxpayers, but sports has long been the heart of Indianapolis's tourism industry, from professional teams to college to high school sports.

"I think you could argue it either way, right? If you're a person who doesn't care about sports, I'm sure that there are plenty of people who would look around and say, we'd be a lot better off spending our money on core infrastructure in schools and public transportation and things that every city needs," Anderson said. "On the other hand, the Colts and the Pacers do bring out a mountain of civic pride and they do bring downtown investment."

Making up for the decline in business travel

When Larry Bird submitted Indianapolis' bid to host the 2021 All-Star game in 2017, arriving at the NBA headquarters in New York City in a canary yellow Indy car, city and basketball officials estimated that the popular event would bring in $100 million to the local economy.

But in late 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic raging, the NBA decided to cancel the game and let Indy host in 2024.

Now, the city could benefit from the game more than ever, said Patrick Tamm, the president and CEO of Indiana Restaurant and Lodging. The city especially needs the publicity to boost its convention business as the pandemic has dampened business travel, making events even more important to tourism, said Tamm.

"Nothing is in the same in Indianapolis (after the pandemic,)" he said. "Business travel is soft; our numbers are in trade shows and conventions." However, conventions can provide a boost to downtown restaurants and shops.

Red's Classic Barber Shop, for one, relies on travel and tourism for business, said owner William Hogg.

Hogg's shop joined the NBA All Star Rewards Program, where visitors spending money can earn points that can be redeemed for NBA prizes such as tickets and autographed merchandise. His hope is that visiting customers will recommend his shop to other travelers or come back next time they're in town.

"It helps a lot," he said.

An expensive weekend

The last time Indianapolis hosted the NBA All-Star game in 1985, the event drew a record 43,146 fans to the now-razed Hoosier Dome. City and basketball officials estimated that the popular game, along with the accompanying street parties and food festivals, brought in $2.5 million to $5 million into the local economy in 1985.

A lot has changed since then. The most recent estimates suggest this game could lead to even more revenue than Indianapolis had originally hoped.

The Pacers and Indianapolis Tourism officials commissioned Temple University researchers to do economic studies on the All-Star game published in 2023 that more than tripled the original estimate. Indianapolis could get some $320 million out of the game this year, according to the Temple researchers, though predictions for economic benefits from events often vary widely.

The tickets for popular events, from concerts to sports, have run wild. With no cap on resale and demand far outpacing supply, tickets to the game online start at above $1,000 and go into five figures.

While there are a number of free or low cost events, the cost of many other ticketed events stretches into the hundreds.

Reputation for the city

Money is only a part of the equation. The other plus is the chance to break free of the region's longtime reputation as a flyover state most well known for corn.

When celebrities from New York and Los Angeles, as well as abroad, come to Indianapolis next week, the city plans to show off its vibrant arts and culture scene.

That includes featuring the fine art fair "Butter," featuring the works of more than 30 Black artists. Improv artists and dancers will perform on stage and via video on the Washington Street corridor.

More: NBA All-Star Weekend will bring a special Butter art fair, food and music to downtown Indy

The T-Mobile building on Washington Street at Meridian Street will be a canvas for Bloomington-based Blockhouse media to project videos of NBA basketballs falling into the Art Deco structure, said Kevin Winkler, the owner and founder of the company.

The media company will project a video by Australian artist Wendy Yu on the District Tap building at the corner of Meridian and Georgia Streets. The video features dancers and basketball players.

"We want to show people that even though we're in the middle of a cornfield," Winkler said, "we have high tech and we know how to use it and we can create content that's as good or better than the content that's being created in LA and Chicago and New York."

Binghui Huang can be reached at 317-385-1595 or Bhuang@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: NBA All Star Game lucrative weekend. But Indy may get more than money