By Abbey Doyle
The Herald Bulletin
ANDERSON, Ind. —
Those wishing to attend the Indianapolis Colts training camp will be shelling out $10 per vehicle for each visit to park on Anderson University’s campus.
The parking fee will be the only cost for visitors attending the training camp at the Kardatzke Wellness Center and Macholtz Stadium on AU’s campus, said Chris Williams, director of communication at the university.
“All of the parking fees will stay with Anderson University to offset some of the costs associated with hosting the Indianapolis Colts training camp,” he said.
Some of the costs associated with it, Williams explained, are additional security, directional signage to help people around campus and general wear and tear to the parking area.
Visitors will be parking on the large campground area between University Boulevard and Fifth Street. Williams said the university’s security services staff will begin to assemble a team to handle traffic flow of both vehicles and pedestrians onto campus. And maps of the campus relative to the training camp and a map of “Colts City” will be given to visitors to help them navigate the area.
Colts City will include interactive inflatables, sponsored booths, the travelling museum “Colts in Motion,” appearances by official Colts mascot Blue, door prizes including tickets, Colts apparel vendors and cheerleader autograph stations.
The main arteries of traffic coming to town will be State Road 32 and Scatterfield Road, Williams said, with visitors being directed to Fifth Street — the main path to get into the parking area. University Boulevard from Nursery Road to College Drive will be closed for the entirety of Colts camp.
“We’re hopeful that many people come out to camp while it is in operation,” Williams said. “The parking is in a really convenient location. And with the university hosting the premier NFL franchise team, we are anticipating many folks coming out. We are working very hard to be as accommodating as we can and to have a good system in place to handle the traffic and manage things efficiently and conveniently for folks going in and out.”
When the training camp was held at Terre Haute’s Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, the city saw an average of 1,500 to 2,000 visitors a day. But the site there was twice the distance for most fans. Ralph Day, executive director of the Anderson/Madison County Visitors and Convention Bureau, has said the city can realistically expect two to three times as many fans will come to camp in Anderson.
To help visitors get to campus, Williams said they are redoing their billboard at exit 26 off of Interstate 69 with a message about Colts camp directing people to campus. They are also redoing their billboard closer to Indianapolis with information about the training camp as well as putting up a billboard on I-69 north of Anderson about camp.
AU is working with the city of Anderson to help people coming into town for training camp.
Tammy Bowman, the city’s director of public and media relations, said they’ve asked the Indiana Department of Transportation to add the training camp to the interstate’s large attraction signs. She said they’re also exploring options on more “festive signage” along the route to campus.
Along the lines of signage, the United Way recently discovered they would be receiving 30 billboards at close to no cost to them featuring Colts player Gary Brackett wearing their signature “Live United” shirt.
Nancy Anderson, vice president of United Way of Madison County, said a partnership with the NFL and the Ad Council helped them land the billboards, which are mostly being funded by Alexandria’s Burkhart Advertising.
“When we heard the Colts were coming back, we wanted to make sure we tried to get the ads out,” Anderson said.
The billboards won’t direct people onto campus but will help with United Way’s kick-off to their campaign Aug. 31.
Williams said visitors need to be reminded that AU is a alcohol-free and smoke-free campus. Personal coolers as well as pets won’t be permitted around the training camp area.
Contact Abbey Doyle, 640-4840, abbey.doyle@heraldbulletin.com.
