Three years ago, Shana Ferguson stood poolside on the U.S. Olympic Qualifiers in Omaha, Nebraska, thrilled to see greater than 12,000 swimming fans watching, but she dared to dream greater.
So, much greater.
“What would that look like in a football stadium?” Ferguson wondered aloud.
Three years later, after countless meetings on topics akin to electrical, plumbing and wastewater engineering, the amazement has finally given method to reality. Ferguson, USA Swimming's business director, and her team of suppliers are only days away from opening an important swimming event on American soil this four-year cycle, in front of what is predicted to be the biggest audience ever to attend a swimming event.
The upcoming U.S. Olympic Qualifiers will likely be held June 15-23 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. This will likely be the primary time the Olympic qualifying tournament has been held in a football stadium. Organizers hope to attract nearly 30,000 spectators on the primary night of the finals, breaking the previous world record.
It will likely be a spectacle – to place it mildly.
“This is the first time anything like this has been attempted in the world,” said Mark Dodd, president of Dodd Technologies, which essentially served as the overall contractor for USA Swimming on the event. “A lot of people are going to come here and look at what we built. We're going to be the model.”
Ferguson added: “We have to make sure we provide these athletes with an incredible experience that will be the highlight of their careers for many of them. We have a responsibility to provide them with a really insanely cool environment.”
It all began, not surprisingly, with the pool itself, which has been under construction for the past three weeks. Construction began on May 12 and was accomplished this week. Nearly 1.7 million gallons of water were brought in from the nearby White River. The water is then stored in tanks that allow for constant circulation, purification and chlorination before flowing out and in of the three pools which were built.
“If you watch it on TV, it will look like an in-ground pool, as if the pool is at ground level,” Ferguson said. “But we're putting an above-ground pool on top of the concrete and building a patio around it. The pool with the patio will actually touch the first 10 rows of seats.”
Raising the pool deck and the perceived floor level for fans will create enough depth for the three pools required. One is the 50-metre long, three-metre deep competition pool – the usual depth for elite swimmers – where all eyes will likely be trained over the nine nights; the opposite two are warm-up pools separated from the competition pool by a curtain on the 50-yard line.
Myrtha Pools, an organization that focuses on organising and tearing down large temporary pools, built the competition pool and two warm-up pools. Spear Corp. in nearby Roachdale, Indiana, handled all of the plumbing, pumps and filtration. Dodd's team is specifically accountable for the decks, scoreboard, signage and all other equipment needed to make the event successful.
“Our biggest challenge was really figuring out what a traditional spectator sport is in a small pool hall and scaling it to work in a space of this size,” Dodd said.
In short, USA Swimming is attempting to sustain with increasing demand. This event continues to grow seemingly every Olympic cycle — and outgrows its venues. The last trials were held in Indianapolis in 2000, with the event held on the 4,700-seat Indiana University Natatorium. Then in 2004, the trials were held outdoors in Long Beach, California, and from 2008 to 2021, they moved to a basketball arena in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. (Myrtha Pools also built the Long Beach pool and the 4 Omaha pools.) In 2016, nearly 200,000 fans attended 15 sold-out sessions. The venue can accommodate about 13,000 swimmers.
The major pool at Lucas Oil Stadium is shown under construction, with temporary seating at left and the warm-up pool structure behind. (Photo courtesy of USA Swimming)
Lucas Oil Stadium has much more seating. Its swimming configuration allows for a capability of around 30,000 spectators with regular stadium seats facing the competition pool, in addition to around 20 rows of movable seats placed in front of the middle field curtain to form a totally enclosed oval for fans. Organizers have planned theme nights (including Father's Day and Juneteenth celebrations that can happen in the course of the event). They are also working with the NBA's Indiana Pacers and WNBA's Fever to draw latest fans who may not yet know much about swimming.
While there will definitely be seats removed from the water's surface, Dodd said visibility will likely be quite good for the greater than 25,000 spectators.
“I don't necessarily know if it's going to be weird or strange, but it's going to be different,” said University of Virginia coach Todd DeSorbo, who will function head coach of the U.S. women's team in Paris. “The more people, the better. And I think the kids will get carried away by the energy of the crowd.”
These evening events, where fans will watch the highest two finishers punch their tickets to Paris, will likely be unforgettable, organizers say. A 50-foot-high video board will stand behind the athletes as they’re announced and enter the pool deck before each final. Ferguson compared it to the players' introduction on Monday Night Football; Dodd said there will likely be the same level of lighting and production to WWE. There will even be a center-hung scoreboard (just like basketball stadiums) since the scoring and timing should be centered above the pool, relatively than where football stadiums have video boards across the edge.
Perhaps one of the best advantage of the football stadium is the installation of the warm-up pool. In Omaha, the warm-up pools were positioned within the convention center as a result of an absence of space in the world. In Indianapolis, they’re separated from the competition pool by only a curtain.
“The thing I'm most excited about is finally having space,” says Bob Bowman, head coach on the University of Texas, who coached Michael Phelps during his profession and can again take quite a few Olympic hopefuls to the trials. “In Omaha, it was so crowded that I just stopped going to the main pool and watching the races because I couldn't get there fast enough to help people warm up and cool down. So I just watched it on the big screen in the warm-up pool.
“It will be great for the participants.”
In what Ferguson calls the “back-of-house athlete experience,” there will be relaxation areas, massages, therapy dogs, nutritional assistance, mental health experts and even a video game room.
“Numerous it’s nerves, hopes and dreams,” Ferguson said. “We have to make certain that even in an enormous stadium, we give the athletes and coaches a way of intimacy where they’ll find peace and solitude and focus, so it's not nearly big lights, Hollywood and excitement.”
In short, it's not just about adding a swimming pool to a football stadium and figuring out where and how to drain the water. It's about repurposing a venue that needs to serve a myriad of purposes for multiple stakeholders at the same time.
And in a week he will be put to the ultimate test – just like the best American swimmers.
An artist's impression of the finished product, complete with fans. Lucas Oil Stadium will likely be the primary football stadium to host U.S. Olympic swimming qualifiers. (Courtesy of USA Swimming)
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