INDIANAPOLIS -- 100 days from now the fastest swimmers in the country will be here in the Circle City to compete for their Olympic dreams.
It’s a huge production. For nine days, nearly 1,000 of the best swimmers in the country will compete inside of Lucas Oil Stadium fighting for one of 52 spots on the Olympic team.
The home of the Colts will have two Olympic-sized swimming pools. The meet will mark the first time a swim meet has ever happened inside of an NFL stadium.
”52 total spots. 26 men and 26 women. They say this is more competitive than the Olympics,” said Dan Gliot with Indiana Sports Corp.
Through the 17 sessions of competitive swimming, Indy Sports Corp is expecting nearly 250,000 people to come to Indy.
Downtown will transform for the stretch, the Indiana Convention Center will have a fan Aqua Zone similar to the recent NBA Crossover. Downtown will be activated with USA Swimming Live.
”Right in the middle of it all were going to have a 66-foot tall replica Eiffel Tower," Gliot said.
The biggest spectacle of it all though, will be transforming an NFL stadium into a natatorium.
”By the time it's all done it'll look like its been there forever," said Andy Meggenhofen, the Vice President of Dodd Technologies.
Dodd is a longtime central Indiana company that's helped make the Olympic Swim Trials happen since the 90s when it was in Indianapolis. The last few Olympic trials have been held in Omaha at the CHI Health Center. Lucas Oil Stadium is able to hold triple the fans and Dodd will use twice the materials as four years ago.
”It literally takes two or three times the amount of equipment just to provide the same amount of services we've been doing," Meggenhofen said. "The space itself I feel like the CHI center in Omaha could fit into Lucas eight times."
Dodd Technologies is in charge of everything from production, staging, audio, lighting and more.
The company will create the pool deck around the two Olympic-sized pools. The deck will sit almost 10 feet off the turf in Lucas Oil Stadium.
Dodd will also suspend a roughly 30-foot tall jumbotron over the pool inside the stadium.
Meggenhofen said they’re not just putting together a swim meet, but a spectacle.
”Swimming is nine nights of primetime," he said.
Single-session tickets for the U.S. Swimming Trials went on sale Thursday. The goal for opening night on June 15 is to set a new world record for the largest swim meet ever with 30,000 fans inside Lucas Oil.