New Year's Eve miracle at Gainbridge Fieldhouse: Transforming Pacers' home to rodeo arena

INDIANAPOLIS -- As soon as the final buzzer sounded on the Indiana Pacers' New Year's Eve game, Andy Arnold's internal clock started ticking.

The senior vice president of facilities had a massive transformation to pull off at the place he oversees -- Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Swapping out an entire NBA court and everything that goes with it, then overhauling the arena into a dirt-covered venue for professional bull riders to stay atop a bucking beast.

From that final basketball buzzer Friday, Arnold had just 24 hours until the Professional Bull Riders kicked off its showcase New Year's Day event. But his work needed to be complete in less than nine, so PBR promoters could begin putting their finishing touches throughout the fieldhouse.

There was an NBA court, basketball goals, cabling and hundreds of seats to be removed. There were tons of dirt to be spread.

And, with nearly 100 workers toiling away overnight as the calendar switched from 2021 to 2022, the miraculous metamorphosis took place.

More: Pro bull riding returns to Indianapolis after 12 year hiatus for New Year's Day showcase

'It was going to be challenging'

The details of making the massive transformation began long before Friday night.

Even before the Professional Bull Riders' event was officially booked, Arnold was flagged by the events booking department at Gainbridge.

"He knew it was going to be unique," Arnold said. "He knew it was going to be challenging."

Arnold immediately got on the phone with the bull riding promoters to ask important questions, such as when they wanted to open the doors to fans, how long it would take for them to set up and put in signage. In essence, what was his final deadline.

"This is unique in that, for us, the stars had to align for this to happen," Arnold said. "A 3 p.m. tipoff is pretty rare. If it were a 7 p.m. tipoff, I don't think we would be able to do this one."

In the end, Arnold knew this would be an intense, rapid changeover and he began plotting his timeline.

First, he was hoping for one thing not to happen in that Pacers-Bulls game Friday.

"It is a word we don't say that starts with an 'O,'" he said. Overtime. That would not be good. Arnold needed every second he could get.

The Pacers ultimately lost to the Bulls 108-106 on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by DeMar DeRozan. Not good for the team. But great for Arnold that the close game didn't go extra minutes.

And so, right on his planned schedule, it was around 5:30 p.m. when his team went to work.

'Ready to get rolling on dirt'

As fans started filing out of Gainbridge, workers started taking down technology, pulling cabling from TV broadcast areas and scorers' tables, removing shot clocks and all the things around the court that are needed for NBA basketball games and not bull riding.

While that took place, other workers began cleaning up courtside. By 7 p.m., 600 courtside seats were being removed and put on racks.

Just after 8 p.m., one of the biggest jobs began -- the 2-hour task of removing the basketball court.

The Pacers' floor is made up of 16 rows of flooring with 15 pieces in each row. Each of those 15 pieces are four feet wide by seven feet long. It takes four workers to remove each piece.

With the court was removed? "Now, we're ready to get rolling on dirt," Arnold said.

About 11 p.m., tri-axle dump trucks loaded with dirt came through the dock, up the ramp and onto the floor, the same way visiting teams arrive at Gainbridge.

"The dirt is the big piece," Arnold said. Workers dumped and spread as dasher walls were installed on the sidelines to make way for corral installations.

By 2 a.m., less than nine hours from the time his internal clock started ticking, Arnold's job was finished. A basketball arena had vanished.

'Make the difficult look easy'

Professional bull riding promoters inside Gainbridge -- already making changes as Arnold's crew toiled -- could now go to work in full force.

"We create the blank canvas for them to design, for them to put their stamp on," he said.

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, they began putting the finishing touches for their event, which begins at 7:45 p.m.

More than 10,000 fans will show up to Gainbridge for the PBR Monster Energy Invitational. Most will have no idea all the work -- and the marvel -- that went into the rodeo coral they will see.

"We try to make the difficult look easy," Arnold said. "If it doesn't resonate with fans that's good. It means we've done our job."

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: PBR: Pacers' home, Gainbridge Fieldhouse, turned into rodeo arena