Downtown hotels say they were at or near capacity for the WNBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis.
INDIANAPOLIS — People showed out downtown for the WNBA All-Star Game throughout the weekend’s events.
Around 70,000 people were expected in Indianapolis for Saturday’s game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, according to Visit Indy.
Pacers Sports & Entertainment said both the All-Star Game and 3-point contest were sold out.
The Omni hotel said they were at 95-100% capacity over the weekend, though restaurants and bars downtown told 13News while they were pretty busy, it was nothing record-breaking.
The District Tap, right down Georgia Street from the fieldhouse, said they had steady business on Friday and Saturday, but if Caitlin Clark was on the court, they say they would’ve seen more people.
“It would’ve been tremendous to see her play, especially in Indianapolis, and what she has done for the WNBA in general,” said The District Tap service manager Vincent Robidoux. “I still feel like they had a really good sellout crowd, but it would’ve brought in a lot of extra people wanting to just be here for that atmosphere and just see her play.”
Other establishments in the area say events like All-Star Weekend help bring in new business.
“We had a lot people that don’t necessarily live downtown, like Carmel or something that, are like, ‘Oh, we can come downtown and come to a place,’ so we also made a lot of repeat customers,” said Carlos Valencia, a cook at The Pub.