Professional Sports in Indiana

What a fantastic time to be a fan of the professional sports franchises located here in Indianapolis. The Indiana Fever is the defending WNBA champions. The Indiana Pacers were a few points shy in the seventh game of the NBA conference finals from upsetting the defending and eventual two time champion Miami Heat. The Indianapolis Indians are at this writing, nearly 20 games over .500 and cruising to the Triple A playoffs again. Even the Brickyard 400 NASCAR race sported a Hoosier winner in Ryan Newman driving for Hoosier team owner Tony Stewart.

With this success in a small market, it gives great credibility to the word
"management". Our franchises cannot compete on the basis of pure economic clout but must excel because of shrewd management.

Also, with this success, it would be easy to rest on the laurels of the victories and not simply strive to improve the products. Certainly, winning matters in all franchises, but winning is critical to small market teams as winning is the only way to consistently compete at the national level with respect to fan support and attendance.

The Fever, despite a series of injuries, is poised to make the playoffs again. The Colts have been extremely active in upgrading their team with a spending space to secure necessary depth and talent. The Pacers have significantly upgraded their talent through shrewd trades and free agent signings. The Indians are working to extend their affiliation agreement with the Pittsburgh Pirates as they have committed players to Indianapolis that continue a winning tradition. And of course, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is in a major capital and management overhaul. Yes, we are indeed blessed if not spoiled by the excellence that we witness with our professional sports franchises. I applaud the management teams, each and every one of them, as it is more difficult to sustain success than it is to even get to the top in the first place. For me? I'm betting on all of our pro teams to manage well for continued winning!