USA Swimming has released artist’s renderings of the scene for the upcoming 2024 US Olympic Swimming Trials in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The images come about two weeks after full-session tickets for the meet went on sale to the general public.
The 2024 US Trials will be held in the largest indoor venue in the event’s history, with USA Swimming and their partners the USOPC hoping for somewhere between 30,000 and 35,000 spectators to attend. The meet will be held in Indianapolis’ professional football stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium, though it will be reduced from its maximum capacity of about 70,000 spectators.
That’s a significant upgrade from the ~15,000 seat basketball venue that has hosted the last four Olympic Trials meets.
Courtesy: USA Swimming
The rendering shows a small temporary seating bank on one side of the pool with a large black curtain dropped to block off the cool down pool/rest of the venue. While it appears as though the pool is situated in one end zone, the large suspended scoreboard is centered over the pool (it’s normally over the middle of the field), implying that the video board can be moved from its usual central location.
This same setup is used when basketball games are hosted in Lucas Oil Stadium, as the 2021 NCAA Men’s basketball championship was.
While we don’t expect the roof to be open for any session of the swimming trials, it will be hard to get the facility as dark as is in the rendering for most of the meet, as one end is a large bank of glass windows. The sun sets around 9PM local time in Indianapolis in June.
USA Swimming also included a rendering of crowds at the planned USA Swimming Live event on George Street. The plan is to have a swimming-themed street festival and “hospitality hub” to capture fans before and after sessions.
Besides larger crowds, Lucas Oil will allow for more warmup and cooldown space: in addition to the usual 50-meter warmup and cooldown pool, there will be a 25-meter warmup and cooldown pool available to competitors.
.jpg){kind=link}
Spectator seating only on one side of the pool. Who thought that would be a good idea? I’d much rather be in Omaha.
Let me know when they lower prices!
I have to imagine the pool is above ground…right? The deck looks seamless with the stands, which is why I am a little confused. The pool is probably like 7ft deep, and I don’t think the walls around the stadium are that high.
Pretty cool drawing. I can’t wait to watch this on tv!
They should also have a preview meet of the pool for some of us swimmers that aren’t super elite.