Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Lore & Background

Originally named Conseco Fieldhouse, after the financial firm Conseco, the arena was renamed Bankers Life Fieldhouse, before Gainbridge became the naming rights sponsor in 2021. The arena's distinctive brick and glass facade was designed by Ellerbe Becket to evoke Indiana's classic high school and college field houses. Unlike most other North American sports arenas, the facility was designed primarily for basketball. The arena can accommodate an NHL-sized rink, but the ice hockey seating capacity is reduced to 12,500 in an asymmetrical configuration.

In Their Own Story

It's a Tuesday in late February, 2012. The building is three-quarters full, the kind of night where the Pacers are up by six in the fourth and the crowd has shifted from polite to *feral*. You can feel the floor vibrating through the soles of your sneakers. The PA announcer calls the score and the sound hits the dome and comes back at you like a physical thing. A defender goes down on the glass. The crowd doesn't cheer — they *exhale*, a collective breath that you feel in your molars. Someone two rows ahead is on their feet, arms spread, mouth open, not talking, just *being* the noise. You are part of it. The arena doesn't care what year it is. It only cares that you're here, that you're loud, and that the next possession is still unfinished.

Reader's Guide

The first NBA game held at Conseco Fieldhouse was on November 6, 1999, when the Indiana Pacers played their regular-season home opener against the Boston Celtics. The arena hosted games 3, 4, and 5 of the 2000 NBA Finals, and games 3, 4, and 6 of the 2025 NBA Finals. It also hosted several games of the 2002 FIBA World Championship, the 2009 and 2012 WNBA Finals, and the 2011 NCAA Women's Final Four. The arena has hosted first and second-round games of the 2017, 2022, and 2024 men's NCAA tournaments, as well as first, second, and regional semifinal round games of the 2021 men's tournament. It was the site of the Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament from 2002 to 2007 in even-numbered years, exclusively from 2008 to 2012, and again in 2014 and 2016. The Crossroads Classic was held there from 2011 to 2021. The arena also hosted the 2024 NBA All-Star Game. For basketball, the venue seats 17,923 (18,345 from 1999 to 2006, 18,165 from 2006 to 2016).

Did You Know?

• On March 11, 2019, Metallica set a new attendance record at the venue with 18,274 fans.
• In 2005 and 2006, Conseco Fieldhouse was ranked the No. 1 venue in the NBA according to the Sports Business Journal/Sports Business Daily Reader Survey.
• The arena was home to the Indiana Firebirds of the Arena Football League from 2001 to 2004.
• In 2015, the fieldhouse hosted the Indy Invitational with midget car racing and outlaw kart racing on a dirt track.