Indiana Pacers preparing for season opener at Gainbridge Fieldhouse
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indiana Pacers are preparing to welcome fans back to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Wednesday for their season opener against the Washington Wizards.
The team has several special events planned to kick off the new season, and the first event is planned for Monday afternoon, says Danny Lopez, vice president of external relations and corporate communications for the Pacers.
“If you download the Pacers app, you’ll see that at participating Krogers, we’re gonna be giving away about $25,000 in gift cards for gas and groceries. The players will be out, the Pacemates will be out, and Boomer will be out,” Lopez said. “I can’t reveal the locations. We’re gonna be trickling out some information during the day, but download the Pacers app, and just after four o’clock this afternoon, the locations will drop.”
Lopez says the team is planning a “Gold Out” on Wednesday night.
“Fans that come to the Fieldhouse and get a ticket will get a gold T-shirt, too. There’s gonna be giveaways, there’s gonna be activations on the concourses, there’ll be face painting, there’ll be all kinds of things for kids when they come.”
Pacers fans will notice that the inside of Gainbridge Fieldhouse looks very different than it did before. That’s because the organization has completed its three-year “Fieldhouse of the Future” project — the second-largest renovation in the history of the NBA, according to Lopez.
“We took the building that was already the most iconic and the best building in the NBA and just made it even better– even more state-of-the-art, lots of technology, lots of bar space, lots of areas where people can congregate and just hang out and have a good time. There are new concessions, new restrooms. It’s just a top to bottom, brand-new building and it’s the building that fans deserve. We’ve got the best basketball fans, so we deserve to have the basketball arena in the world.”
There’s a lot of excitement surrounding this young Pacers team, Lopez says.
“We’ve got such young talent. We’ve got these exciting players that we’re gonna get to watch — a lot of them, for the first time this season. I think any time you get people in that building, experiencing that environment, that Hoosier energy in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and then watching this great talent..it’s always great to see.”
Tipoff for Wednesday’s game against the Wizards is at 7 p.m.