INDIANAPOLIS — It may not feel like it to longtime fans, but the Indiana Pacers have now played at Gainbridge Fieldhouse for as long as they played at Market Square Arena.
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The Pacers played at Market Square Arena from 1974 until October 22, 1999, a preseason match-up against the Utah Jazz. The team opened its regular season at the then-Conseco Fieldhouse two weeks after the final game, which means the Pacers have now called each arena home for 25 years.
“Well, I am old,” said Pacers fan Dan Murphy when he learned about this fact. “MSA was crazy. It was like a big high school gym.”
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Market Square Arena stood vacant until it was imploded on July 8, 2001. The arena’s site on Market and Alabama Streets was replaced with a high-rise residential tower with a Whole Foods grocery store and Cummins’ Indianapolis headquarters.
“It was sad, but I knew there would be economic development coming in,” Murphy said. “It’s out with the old, in with the new.”
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Although the arena is gone, the Pacers’ old court is still in use at the National Institute for Fitness and Sport near IU-Indianapolis, complete with the Market Square Arena wordmark.
“There’s so many incredible moments that happened on this floor and incredible players that played here,” said National Institute of Fitness and Sport director Melanie Roberts. “To have it here available for the public to use, it’s a chance of a lifetime.”
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Murphy often plays basketball on the old Market Square Arena floor.
“I tell the young kids who come here, ‘This is the Pacers’ court,'” Murphy said. “This court brings back a lot of memories. I remember the playoffs with the Knicks and the atmosphere.”
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The only reminder of Market Square Arena on its former site is a plaque dedicated to Elvis Presley, who played his last concert at the arena on June 26, 1977.
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