FFA Convention returning to Indianapolis with 9-year deal

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The National FFA Convention that draws several thousand teenagers will be held in Indianapolis for the next nine years under a $4.5 million deal with state officials.

Gov. Mike Pence joined city and FFA officials at Wednesday’s announcement that the annual convention will return next year and remain through 2024. The state will provide $500,000 a year in incentives for the event.

The group that promotes agricultural education was already scheduled to hold its convention in Indianapolis from 2016 to 2018 after a three-year run in Louisville, Kentucky, where it has drawn an estimated 60,000 annual visitors.

The convention was in Indianapolis the previous seven years.

The FFA decision comes after tourism-related businesses in Indianapolis were shaken by this spring’s national outcry over the state’s new religious objections law.