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Indy Eleven owner meets with state lawmakers

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The owner of the Indy Eleven soccer team has spent more time in the Statehouse than in the clubhouse recently.

Team owner Erdsal Ozdemir spent several hours with Indiana lawmakers Wednesday afternoon and tried to convince them to help with funding for a permanent home for the team. There is pending legislation that, if passed, would require a soccer team have a long-term agreement with Major League Soccer. The league has expansion plans, but Indianapolis has not made the short list. 

The final cost is expected to be about $550 million. 

Ozdemir said, “We’ve stated six years ago that we needed a permanent home, regardless of where play. This deal, the way it’s structured, doesn’t ask for one penny.”

He said the measure before lawmakers  shows the taxpayers that the team is going to invest $400 million and that the soccer stadium is a smaller part of the project.”

As for a location of the proposed stadium, the pending legislation requires it he built in Marion County.