What do the Pacers, ISO have in common?

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Sports and the arts — they seem like two very different endeavors. And, on the surface, they are.

Consider the Indiana Pacers and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. In 2012, they had something in common. Each was the subject of some very important negotiations.   

The symphony survived the lock-out of musicians last fall. Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard acknowledges “they’ve been through a rough patch, lately.  But they got it worked out."

The contract dispute ended when the musicians accepted substantial pay cuts. But, the orchestra still needs new donors to provide $5 million in cash or pledges by February to activate the musicians' new five year contract.

Ballard told 24-Hour News 8 the dispute was a wakeup call.

"Everything needs to be supported. It always takes dollars to run these things. Maybe people just assumed too much that it was going to be there forever — and we have to make sure that we support the symphony — and I think we realized that,” Ballard said.

In early December, the Pacers and the Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board devised a short-term extension of their deal on Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

"We can either give them this amount of money to run the facility or we can run it by ourselves more expensively,” Ballard said. “What would you do?”

So, the Pacers' management — on behalf of owner Herb Simon — gets $10 million — in two installments. Half was set for payment in late December. The other half is due by the end of April. This extends the fieldhouse contract for a year — to 2014 — to give negotiators time to arrange a long-term deal. Ballard said the Pacers appear “amenable to almost anything at this point in time. They certainly want to stay. Herb's made it very clear that he wants the Pacers to stay in Indianapolis. We want them to stay in Indianapolis." 

Ballard says he wants the team in town because of all the good things they do around the city. Beyond that, he said it’s just good business because 50 times a year they bring thousands of people downtown.

The Pacers – and the Colts – offer one more way for sports to unite with the arts. The owners of both teams have each pledged $750,000 to help the ISO reach its $5 million  goal.

The orchestra says it's nearly halfway there. The deadline is Feb. 3.