The All-Star Game, a solar eclipse and Taylor Swift: Could 2024 be Indy's busiest tourism year?

For organizations with a stake in downtown Indianapolis's success, the NBA's recent visit for its annual All-Star Weekend was an unqualified success.

Sure, the traffic was a mess. And the sidewalks were crowded with tourists and suburbanites. And the weather didn't hold up.

But for three days, downtown's three major venues — Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indiana Convention Center — were alive in a way reminiscent of pre-pandemic times.

According to Pacers Sports & Entertainment, it was the most-attended NBA All-Star Weekend in 11 years, with more than 190,000 people visiting the downtown venues across three days.

"We could not be happier with how the weekend unfolded," said Chris Gahl, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Visit Indy. "We continue to hear effusive praise from visitors, corporations and visiting media."

As Visit Indy, Downtown Indy Inc. and other partner organizations centered around attracting visitors downtown measure All-Star's successes with one hand, the other is hard at work preparing the area for a year unlike any other in terms of large events.

One-off rarities such as a total solar eclipse and a trio of Taylor Swift concerts will mix with usual favorites, such as the Indianapolis 500 and Gen Con. And sporting events aren't done, either, as Olympic swimming and college basketball will return.

"This year is shaping up to be the busiest (tourism) year in our city's history," Gahl said.

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What was All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis like?

It's been less than two weeks, but Gahl can rattle off plenty of statistics backing up the All-Star win claims, including an estimated $350 million in economic impact. He noted the 8,500 downtown Indianapolis hotel rooms, and the 33,000 in the entire metro area, were nearly all full despite four-night minimum requirements.

Tracking the impact for local businesses is a little more tricky, but not impossible.

"Anecdotally, retailers and businesses say it was a pretty good weekend," said Taylor Schaffer, CEO and president of Downtown Indy Inc.

The weather, which included a Friday evening snowstorm, may have hurt businesses outside the areas nearest Gainbridge Fieldhouse and the convention center.

"There was a real concentration around the stadium and Gainbridge," Schaffer said. "If it had been beautiful, people may have been moving around more."

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Traffic was an issue. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department did not respond to a request for an interview to discuss All-Star Weekend, but Schaffer noted the overall traffic management plans were relaxed slightly after Friday's storm.

Both Visit Indy, which looks at visitors traveling to Indianapolis from at least 50 miles away, and Downtown Indy Inc., which is focused on residents and local businesses, noticed the traffic woes. But that may just be the price of doing business.

"That's what happens when you have an event this size, and it would happen anywhere," said Danny Lopez, Pacers Sports & Entertainment's vice president for external affairs and corporate communications. "If you had Los Angeles, Chicago, New York — the venues would all be further away from each other, and you'd still have that traffic on top of it."

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Downtown bracing for eclipse, sports, Taylor Swift

With All-Star in the rearview, Downtown Indy, Visit Indy and Lucas Oil Stadium sent out a survey to gauge businesses' plans for future upcoming events and, specifically, Swift's visit.

These include Gainbridge hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament in March, April's solar eclipse, a national firefighters conference in April, the Indianapolis 500 parade and related events in May, Olympic swimming trials at Lucas Oil in June, Gen Con in August and Swift's Nov. 1-3 concerts.

Advice offered in the survey included hiring private security, as IMPD is likely to be tied up.

Schaffer noted that the All-Star Weekend had an engaged host committee, which is necessary for smoothly running such a large event. Some of the above events have something similar, but others do not. Downtown Indy is hoping to bring as many businesses and organizations into the fold as possible to keep the area running smoothly in 2024.

"The spirit of collaboration has always put (Indianapolis) ahead of the pack globally when it comes to large events," she said.

Lopez noted All-Star's host committee was upwards of 400 people, with a board made up of major stakeholders from the travel, sports, business, events and philanthropy realms. Planning took nearly seven full years, beginning with the Pacers' bid for the game in April 2017.

"In a lot of cities, (host committees) are a small group," Lopez said. "It's very top-down and people are pulled in near the end."

"We pull in people from the beginning," he continued. "And it's always been like that for 40 or 50 years. It's the only way we know how to do it, and, candidly, it's the only way to do it."

Indianapolis turning to other cities when planning for solar eclipse, the Taylor Swift effect

Visit Indy began planning for the upcoming solar eclipse in 2021, Gahl said. It contacted cities in the path of totality during a similar 2017 eclipse. Columbia, South Carolina, for example, drew 100,000 people.

Based on early hotel numbers and scheduled eclipse programming at White River State Park, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Newfields and other local spots, Visit Indy is anticipating between 100,000-250,000 visitors.

Swift's drawing power and impact has also been studied, Gahl said.

"We talked to other cities, and we know for a fact that fans will travel to a city she is playing without a ticket," Gahl said. "They will seek out other fans at ancillary events."

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Thus, the Visit Indy-Downtown Indy-Lucas Oil Stadium coalition is seeking to gather information on as many non-concert Swift events as possible, such as a planned tailgate hosted by the Indiana State Museum.

"We need to think strategically on how to offer sanctioned, safe, attractive events for fans coming to our city," Gahl said.

All-Star Weekend and Swift's concerts mark the beginning and end of a 10-month event flurry that will be reminiscent of pre-pandemic years, Schaffer said. As many restaurants, hotels and retailers have closed and opened since 2020, Downtown Indy and its partners are seeking to re-introduce themselves.

"It's about re-establishing the general spirit of collaboration and plan ahead," Schaffer said. "It's been a while since we had an events calendar like 2024."

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Rory Appleton is the pop culture reporter at IndyStar. Contact him at rappleton@indystar.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @RoryEHAppleton.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Taylor Swift, NBA, eclipse: 2024 could be Indy's busiest tourism year