$720m NFL home of NCAA men’s championship unrecognizable as world’s biggest swimming venue

Lucas Oil Stadium is the iconic stage for this year’s NCAA men’s basketball national championship.

March Madness, the $3.3 billion monster that is arguably bigger than the Super Bowl, NBA Finals and the Masters reaches it’s conclusion on Monday night.

Getty

It is the $720 million NFL stadium that provides a fitting venue for the conclusion of the 2026 NCAA Tournament, which has already seen No. 1 seeded Duke dumped out by UConn.

By the time either UConn – for the sixth time in programme history – or Michigan, for the first time ever, are crowned champions, around 70,000 fans will have piled into the home of the Indianapolis Colts.

Since it opened in 2008, Lucas Oil Stadium has hosted the Final Four on three previous occasions, in 2010, 2015 and 2021.

The biggest names in college basketball will once again dream of lifting the national title in Indianapolis this year, when the NFL turf is swapped out for the hardwood floor.

Lucas Oil Stadium has proven a rather versatile venue in recent years, and it’s not just football and basketball that can be played inside the building.

Soccer matches, concerts and even WWE’s Royal Rumble event have unfolded there, with a future SummerSlam and two-night WrestleMania to come in future.

But perhaps the most impressive event took place back in 2024, when Lucas Oil Stadium hosted the US Olympic Swimming Trials.

How did the Colts end up hosting US swim trials?

Held every four years, the Olympic Trials rank as the most important event in swimming, and offer competitors the chance took punch their ticket to the Games.

For 10 days in June 2024, Lucas Oil Stadium was transformed into one of America’s largest indoor swimming venues.

The sport’s signature event has become so popular in recent years, that it has outgrown the conventional pools that once hosted Olympic Trials.

Getty

It has even outgrown basketball venues like the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska, which had a run of hosting four from 2008 to 2021.

To put it simply, by 2024, it was time for USA Swimming to try an NFL stadium for size.

“We’re taking a swing,” CEO Tim Hinchey acknowledged at the time, in an interview with Sports Illustrated.

“We’re seizing the opportunity to amplify our sport.”

Shana Ferguson, USA Swimming’s CCO, has been credited with dreaming up the idea of taking the trials to Indy.

“What would this look like in a football stadium?” she wondered aloud, as she stood on the pool deck in Omaha, back in 2021.

Getty

Countless meetings regarding electrical engineering, plumbing and drainage followed, and Lucas Oil Stadium was eventually transformed into a record-setting swim venue.

According to The Athletic, the pool itself was built over three weeks, with construction beginning in May 2024.

How was Lucas Oil transformed for US swimming?

Nearly two million gallons of water were brought in from Indiana’s nearby White River, which was then held in tanks that allowed it to be constantly circulated, cleaned and chlorinated before filtering in and out of the three pools installed.

To those in the stadium and watching on TV, they looked like in-ground pools, but in reality, elevated decks were built to ensure enough depth was created.

One was the 50-meter-long, three-meter-deep competition pool — the standard for elite swimming — while two warmup pools were also built, and separated from the competition area by a curtain.

Getty

A big scoreboard was placed above the competition pool, to ensure spectators inside the building were able to follow the action.

“Really, our biggest challenge was trying to figure out what is traditionally a close-up spectator sport in a small natatorium and scaling it so that it works in a space of this size,” Mark Dodd, the president of Dodd Technologies, which served as USA Swimming’s general contractor for the event, told The Athletic at the time.

With everything in place, the US Olympic Swim Trials unfolded over nine days, and set record-breaking attendance numbers.

On June 15, 2024, a crowd of 20,689 set a new record for the largest gathering at a swim meet.

Getty

The event continued to break records, with 17,697 fans attending the prelims session and a peak of 22,209 attendees later in the week.

Overall, the trials inside Lucas Oil Stadium welcomed over 285,000 fans, marking a significant increase from previous events.

Such was the success of the event, that USA Swimming has announced a return to the venue for the 2028 trials, even if the Olympics is being hosted 2,000 miles away in Los Angeles.

Swimming at the LA Games is scheduled for SoFi Stadium, which is set to accommodate 38,000 fans, but it’s Lucas Oil Stadium that helped make it all possible.

Stay up to date with the latest from US sports across all platforms – follow our dedicated talkSPORT USA Facebook page and subscribe to our talkSPORT USA YouTube channel for all the news, exclusives, interviews and more.