Second Interview with Indy Eleven Supporters Group (Backyard Battalion) President David Ziemba
In our follow-up interview, we discussed the feelings of fans, talks with state senators, new stadium plans, and more!
Welcome to our second interview with the Indy Eleven Umbrella Supporters Group President David Ziemba. A lot has changed in the Indy Eleven front since our first interview, specifically the fact that they have a new investor that is attempting to directly take the club to MLS. This interview was conducted on Thursday May 2, therefore missing that key talking point. However, there is still a great deal of interesting info that we discussed.
Last Wednesday, President Ziemba and the Backyard Battalion attended the Metro Development Committee Meeting in Indianapolis where the new soccer stadium proposal was introduced by city Mayor Joe Hogsett. President Ziemba also sat down to talk with Indiana Senator Todd Young about the ongoing situation. Both of those key meetings will be discussed in this interview. The interview also discusses a mass gravesite affecting the stadium deal, controversial comments from Mayor Joe Hogsett, mysterious financial problems, Don Garber’s (MLS’ commissioner) presence in all this, and more.
But, the most important part of the interview is Mr. Ziemba’s explanation on the stance of their supporters group and how they will navigate through certain situations if they were to come to light, specifically the one that has now come to light with a new investor from the MLS group teaming up with the current Indy Eleven ownership group. Their explanation is detailed and reasonable with a core message stating that their voice will and needs to be heard. Because just like we asked in the first interview, without the fans, can the team really exist?
If you would to read the first interview before moving on, it is liked below along with the latest news from BT90 regarding the new MLS-minded investor in the club.
BT90: The Backyard Battalion went to the Metro Development Committee Meeting in Indianapolis on Wednesday where Mayor Joe Hogsett revealed his initial plan for the proposed MLS soccer stadium. What exactly was discussed at the meeting and what were your key takeaways?
Ziemba: Wednesday’s meeting was the first of a 4-step legislative process here in Indianapolis. The Metro Development Commission is made up of members of the general public. They are not elected; they are appointed by the mayor and several city-county counselors. They had a pre-meeting in which the new map/zoning area was proposed. It is about a mile east of where Eleven Park currently is. What was discussed was that if this went all the way through all the legislative steps, it would give the option of either Eleven Park or this new location. It would not distinguish this other option.
That’s important because there is some news out there that says if this new map gets passed, the old map that has already been agreed to would go away. That is not true. This gives the city two options, but it gives either this investment group (that we still don’t know who’s apart of it) and the current club (Indy Eleven) the options to come together at some point and figure out what’s best for everyone involved.
They discussed that upstairs in a different meeting. The general public was allowed to come in. Then, we went back downstairs to the public assembly room where about 15 Batallion members were there, and about 100 of so employees of both Indy Eleven and Keystone Construction (Keystone is club owner Ezra Ozdemir’s company building Eleven Park) showed up. If you look at pictures, you’re going to see a lot of people in blue “Build Eleven Park” shirts. Those were all basically employees, but that’s their job, their jobs are at stake here. We were offered those shirts. It’s not our official position about Eleven Park one way or another. Our care is about the crest, the colors, and the culture. That’s what we want to continue, either at Eleven Park or at this new site location, that’s really what we care about. But I’m not going to tell the members to not take a free t-shirt.
So, what happens from now is that this creates a vehicle for the city-county council to play with in the legislative process. This will be introduced if they can find a sponsor (we’re not really sure if they can or not) to introduce it at the next council meeting. That will then be referred to the Metro Development Economic Committee, of which is made up of city-county counselors. They will do their own investigation. They will then vote either to approve it out of committee or not. Again, that vote is undetermined at this point. If it is approved, it will be moved to the full council who would then have a chance to approve it or not. If it is approved, then at that point it becomes a thing and it gives a new factor, a new variable, if you will, in this whole situation.
The important part is that during the public televised hearing, the mayor gave a statement to a news saying that all talks with Indy Eleven about Eleven Park had ceased and were terminated because they just didn’t have the financing available from their end. That’s a big development. It’s very concerning, and so that’s been the news for the last 24 hours here in Indianapolis.
The project was ambitious, especially for a USL club, with a billion dollar investment in the community., But, with receiving some public funds, everything seemed to be in place to the point where they have already started to build Eleven Park. In my view, this brought legal questions on whether the mayor and the city could realistically pull out of the deal, which they did. But, if there were financial difficulties, that’s a different story.
Logistically, this is what’s going on at the Eleven Park site right now. It’s part of a larger economic development deal, as you probably well know, so the mayor has proposed over the last couple of years redeveloping White River State Park. That is just to the west of the Eleven Park location. There’s a huge animal pharmaceutical company that is moving to that location based on the fact that there’s going to be this massive redevelopment of the state park as well as Eleven Park.
The problem with the location is that is it not just bare ground. There was stuff there. They had to tear that down, and it was a site that used to be a cemetery, originally a Confederate army gravesite. It was one of the first cemeteries in town generally, and it was also a place where the majority of African-Americans who were living here at the time were being buried. So, what we know is that there’s a lot of people whom that’s there final resting place. That’s always been a concern about the location. A report from IndyStar (editor’s note: linked at bottom of article) said that there could be up to 20,000 bodies that are buried at that location. In order to find and relocate these bodies, that’s going to be a lot of money. I don’t think anybody realized that was going to be that big.
So, if you’re reading tea leaves, it could be that the mayor knows what the number actually is now or there’s been studies done of the area that we don’t know about that could have increased the budget beyond what the city is prepared to take on. So, we don’t know what the answer about financing is yet, but it’s up in the air and again this is a developing story where we’re learning things every day.
They have already dug up bodies, correct? What have they done with those bodies?
The agreement is that if they find remains, they will be dug up by hand and handled in a very respectful way. Then, they will be relocated to a different cement era here in town. That’s what happened and it’s very procedural.
Do you see a world from the information you have where the financial difficulties could have something to do with the current ownership of Indy Eleven?
I don’t know enough information to answer that question yet. The article about the estimation of how many remains are there came out this afternoon, and the mayor’s statement was yesterday. It is so rapidly developing that it makes my head spin, and I’m kind of a veteran at this kind of stuff, and I am perplexed every time something new comes out. It takes more energy not to freak out than it would to jump on a phone and hammering questions at people. I just don’t have enough bandwidth to freak out about every new piece of information or some new quote. In fact, the news reporter who got the quote from the mayor immediately called me and I just said, “Well, that’s not new news”. We knew that they hadn’t been talking for a while, so we don’t know it if ceased today or yesterday or a month ago. All we know is that they’re not talking and that’s not new news.
Along with attending the Committee meeting since our last interview, you had the opportunity to meet with Indiana Senator Todd Young and discuss the current Indy Eleven situation. Senator Young also sat down with MLS commissioner Don Garber recently. What are your key takeaways from your interview with Senator Young, and did he reveal to you anything he discussed with Mr. Garber?
A little background on the senator, Senator Young played soccer at the Naval Academy. When he was reelected, he decided to start a caucus in Congress. Caucuses are informal things among members that they find to be really relevant to their interests or their districts or their states. It’s just a way for people with like interests to talk about legislation that could be coming.
Editor’s Note: Senator Young is the co-chairman of the Congressional Soccer Caucus.
The fact that he met with Don Garber, as well as the FIFA president who was in town, actually was a coincidence. It was one of the first things he and I talked about. I generally try not to make assumptions about things until I have more information. The Senator said that it was a coincidence because both the FIFA president and Don Garber were in town to talk about trying to bring the next Women’s World Cup here in the United States. Young decided to bend Don Garber’s ear a little bit to figure out what was going on. I didn’t ask for specifics, but he just told me that his conversation with Mr. Garber was very good, that they have a relationship, that he’s in contact with him, and that what he learned from that conversation was that MLS is really interested in coming to Indianapolis and it’s a very viable possibility. I only had 20-25 minutes with the Senator, so I decided to not dive in to whatever he was talking about with Mr. Garber but really what was going on here at home. When you’re in DC, there’s a lot of things pulling your attention. When you have precious moments with a member of Congress, you want to make sure you’re telling them what’s going on that you know back here that’s going to turn their ear about why this it’s important and why he’s taking the meeting.
Editor’s Note: More about the Senator and Mr. Ziemba’s discussion is explained below. His answer ended up flowing into the next question.
Is there any information you want to share to readers that you’ve received from behind the scenes that we haven’t discussed?
I have made and the BYB has made some progress on meeting with the new investment group. They seem to be open to it. Again, part of this whole complex situation is we just don’t have all of the information. I think you and I talked a couple of times about how we all feel, those of us in this situation, feel like we’re coming in and out of everyone’s office and having separate conversations with individuals and then sharing that information with somebody else. That was one of the things the Senator and I aligned on. We both felt that way. In fact, he and I came to an agreement that we feel the same way that this gets solved really only one way, which is getting everyone in a room, including the Battalion, and having a very frank, open, and honest conversation. I think that needs to happen. I’m hoping to set up a meeting with this investment group to find out A - who they are, B - what their interests are, and C - if there’s any compromise that can maybe be made between everyone including the club as it is and Mr. Ozdemir and gaging that interest (Editor’s Note: As we know now, there seemingly has been a compromise). My hope is yes, that all of that can happen, and then everybody can walk away as a win-win situation where the club continues and progresses, maybe becomes an MLS franchise at some point, if not this year, and then maybe some stadium deal can be had between everybody involved.
Both the Senator and I ended our conversation with the agreement that what we want out of this situation is that everybody would end up on a stage together smiling, laughing, shaking each other’s hands, and patting each other on the back. We think that that’s possible. We just need everybody to get in a room and actually hash this thing out ‘cause that’s really the only way it happens. I’m uniquely situated, and so is the senator, to try to make that happen because of what we both do for a living. Again, I’m ready to facilitate that conversation and lead it if necessary, but I think the Battalion needs to be a part of it because we’re here to protect our member’s interests in continuing the crest and the colors and the culture in that community that we’ve built and the family that we have. I can’t guarantee the new investors, if they’re listening, that that’s going come with us; if they’re the winner of this whatever is going on, and it’s not Indy Eleven, I don’t think Brickyard Battalion would vote to go with…
Editor’s Note: At this point in our interview, the Zoom meeting cut out on us and we had to set up a new one. Therefore, Mr. Ziemba was asked to continue discussing what the Backyard Battalion stance would be in an MLS expansion side came in without the Indy Eleven identity and culture. This is his answer. You will also see references to a cut-off in one later question, and that is referring to the Zoom cutoff.
Our membership is very dedicated to what we’ve built over the last 13 years. Let’s play this scenario out where say there’s two teams. Well, obviously our loyalties lie with Indy Eleven. Let’s say there’s two stadiums and the USL team goes away, and that’s very common in the five instances that we know. What do we do? That’s not going to be a me decision as President. That’s above my pay grade, which is literally is nothing because I’m a volunteer. That’s a general meeting question, you know, we are a nonprofit. I consider our members essentially shareholders in that nonprofit and I think that their voice has to overcome anything else we decide. I’m not going to be the one who decides that. I think it needs to be a full Battalion meeting, and a vote, a general vote, on what we do next.
Let’s say that the investors talk with Mr. Ozdemir and some deal can be made between the two parties. Again, I don’t know if that would be a “my-call”; I would hope that it wouldn’t be on the President’s shoulders to say, “Okay everybody, let’s just move down the street!” I don’t think that that’s the right way to look at this. Again, it’s gotta be a joint understanding and everybody’s got to have their voice heard in that situation because it’s great that some deal has been made, some compromise has been made, and Indy Eleven is going to continue but it’s gonna try to go to the MLS. How do we feel about that? Let’s have a conversation, let’s have debate, let’s investigate, here’s all the information I know. Maybe, Mr. Ozdemir comes to that meeting and he presents his side. Maybe, this new investor group comes and talks with the Battalion themselves. Much like if anybody is watching “Welcome to Wrexham”, Ryan Reynolds and Mr. McElhenney had to talk to the supporters. Granted, that was a different situation ‘cause they kinda own the dang team. But still, they had to make a presentation about why they were going to be able to take on this responsibility of their club because the club is connected to all of those people.
One would hope that these new folks, I know Mr. Ozdemir is a soccer fan, he understands that, one would hope that these new investor are the same and they understand the culture, too, surrounding a club. That would be part of a conversation that I think needs to be had with whomever these investors are. Hopefully, I get to have that conversation.
Editor’s Note: We’ll see if they get to have that conversation now that there is new ownership alongside Mr. Ozdemir. Will they meet with the fans and lay out their full intentions since it’s been asked of them?
You were cut off saying that if they aren’t open to the conversations and continue to go through expansion without Indy Eleven that the BYB would not support the team, correct?
Based on the conversations I’ve had with both very loud members and very quiet members of the Battalion, just the general sense that I get is if there has to be a choice in a worse-case scenario where the club folds and there’s a brand new club with a brand new crest and a brand new everything, I don’t have the sense that it would be an easy vote for the new club. I just don’t, I don’t have that feeling. I think it would be a really hard decision for a lot of people, and I don’t know if the Battalion would got to the “new club” that was just by itself. I can’t guarantee that it would not happen, but my general sense is that it wouldn’t be likely that the Battalion would continue in its current form.
That makes sense, especially considering what has already happened with MLS and USL in certain situations. Look at San Diego with what happened with the Loyal and how their supporter’s group have had to negotiate that. I believe some of their main groups have decided to take on supporting San Diego FC, but I believe there were many smaller groups that also didn’t.
Correct.
You are the umbrella group over all Indy Eleven supporters groups. If the umbrella group has a vote, would the umbrella group be the ones in the vote to decide, “Hey, we do or don’t support this”? Or, would it be each individual supporter’s group that would say, “Hey, let’s support this”?
So, the general meetings are one-person, one vote. It’s not like the U.S. Senate where each state has a vote. That would be the same way as each individual getting one vote. That’s not how the general meeting has worked in the past. Obviously, this would be a very unique situation and a new one, but I would assume without any background whatsoever, in having talked to people at the board, because of course we would have to include them in how to figure out the best way forward, but I would assume everybody would go with the same way we’ve always done it with board elections and things of that nature that it would be everybody had their individual vote to go forward. Now, if an affiliate group decided that they didn’t want to go forward with either the vote or following the club or whatever the Battalion decided as a whole? I mean, that’s on them. Again, I’m not here to control people. That’s definitely not what I do. In my role, I’m more like herding cats than I am anything else to make sure that we’re all pointed int he same direction. Hopefully, people follow me, and when they don’t, I don’t lose sleep over it. It is what is is. They’ve got their own minds and can do what they want.
Final question, you talked about earlier that the proposition going through the city-county council said that there would still be two stadium plans available and that the Eleven Park plan would still be there. However, the Mayor said that they pulled out of the deal because of financial difficulties. I don’t get how you can pull out of a deal and then still have the stadium idea from the deal on the table. Do you know why it was proposed like that?
I had a sense of why this was happening and what the options were before yesterday’s comment from the mayor. Obviously, yesterday’s comment kind of threw everything up into the air and we’re trying to figure out exactly what he meant. We knew that the parties were no longer talking; that’s not news. I didn’t get the question, what was posed to the mayor. A lot of his answer could be construed as this happened today, this happened yesterday. But, the question posed could have been, “have you talked to them in a while?” “No, all talks have ceased”. It’s a pretty reasonable answer because that’s what we all know to be true. So, a lot of it depends on whatever the question asked was, so I try not to, and again I said this earlier, I try not to freak out about stuff until I know the full answer because if you do in this situation as rapidly as it’s developing, you will lose your mind. Luckily, I’m an attorney and I can compartmentalize pretty well and see through things and try to rationalize as much as possible. I’ve also been involved in politics for 30 years, so it was nice to talk to the senator because I was a senate staffer for a long time. I got the sense that the senator and I were on the same page and that we may be working more closely together over the next 4 or 5 or 6 weeks than we ever imagined before today.
There was a lot of information given to us by President Ziemba when we sat down with him, but the key takeaways we should make are about the mass gravesite, the mayor’s financial comments, and the fan’s/Battalion’s approach to a new team or investors.
If the gravesite does have the estimated and reported 20,000 bodies, that will drive up costs on the stadium significantly. Will the city realistically be able to continue the Eleven Park project there? If the project falls through, can the team go to the mayor’s proposed stadium site (the land of which is owned by Indy Eleven’s new investor, according to our Kartik Krishnaiyer) after already clearing out the land for Eleven Park? What happens to the companies moving there, the state park renovations, and the new jobs created by the city? People’s lives will be heavily affected by how this situation is handled, so the importance of the gravesite has to be proclaimed. The link to the article that explains the gravesite situation can be found here: https://mirrorindy.org/greenlawn-cemetery-keystone-eleven-park-indianapolis/.
The financial comments surrounding Eleven Park made by Indianapolis mayor Joe Hogsett are worriful, but as Mr. Ziemba says, it’s best not to panic about it when we don’t have all the information as of now. We don’t know when talks stopped, we don’t know the context of the question asked of him, and we don’t know if it is the club or the city lacking funds. Until we have more information, there does not need to be a mass panic. What one would hope is that the new MLS-eyeing billionaire investor in Indy Eleven has put a rest to financial difficulties for the Eleven Park development.
Finally, with MLS heavily interested in Indianapolis and a new MLS-driven investor entering the fray, the Brickyard Battalion are ready to negotiate. They’re ready to support their club before anything else; before leagues, before politics, and before choosing sides of the American soccer wars. The end of this Indy Eleven saga may end up with the abandonment of the USL, but Mr. Ziemba and the BYB members care about keeping the club’s culture, colors, and community. No matter what side you support in this situation, whether it be MLS or USL, the fans just want to keep what they’ve built. To do so, they need to have their voice heard. Mr. Ziemba and the BYB have started attempts to discuss the situation with club owner Ersal Ozdemir and the MLS investors so that they are heard, and to their credit, they have a Indiana state senator on their side who could assist them.
Fans are the souls of their club, big or small, MLS or USL, top-division or semi-pro. Humanity is driven in the end not by our hearts or our minds, but by our soul. Now, it’s up to the hearts and minds of billionaires to remember what makes up their investment, their body. They need to sit down with the fans because what is a body without a soul?
What is Indy Eleven without the Backyard Battalion?
Calum: will there be a THIRD interview? This has been really fantastic and the story has not yet concluded!
p.s. Oops, I meant to write in my earlier comment: "In lieu of athletic Pro/Rel (which is distinctly un-American), l, the USA has ECONOMIC Pro/Rel. "
"Ultimately, It's About the Money" (TM) Specifically:
1. Billionaires go to the MLS, Millionaires to the USL. Those with no money and little power, settle for the NISA (which is why it will ultimately fail, but that's a different conversation).
2. In lieu of athletic Pro/Rel, the (which is distinctly un-American) USA has ECONOMIC Pro/Rel. We've already seen this with many of the most successful USL Championship teams go to the MLS (*). No relegation yet in soccer, but we've seen that in other Leagues, e.g. NHL. If Indy does get "promoted" to the MLS, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing for the USL! The more successful USL Championship teams can aspire to similarly economically-beneficial "financial exits"!!
3. The USL Championship and League One will likely also have an Economic Pro/Rel system. League One teams like Richmond, Forward Madison, etc. already draw more paying fans in attendance to their games than some USL Championship teams --and even MLB teams like Miami or Pittsburgh-- so may make the jump in coming years.
4. The Indy11 stadium site controversy will be ultimately settled by money --to sort through the bones, remediate the site, or move to another site. The new billionaire investor will make all that possible.
(*) god knows what happened to San Diego --must have been missteps by the S.D. Loyal owner, or he had neither money nor influence )