Star Editorial: It's a deal, for better and worse 7.1410

Call it a reprieve, call it dodging not quite half a bullet. Given the circumstances and expectations, the deal between the Indiana Pacers and the Capital Improvement Board should be taken by city residents as good news.

Having spent months negotiating under the cloud of a $15 million to $18 million annual public expenditure, the city has emerged with a bill of $10 million a year for three years, plus $3.5 million for Conseco Fieldhouse improvements. The deal also carries substantial penalties should the team leave town before 2019.

The bad news, potentially, is that the Pacers can come back in three years asking for more. The bad news that is no longer news is that the CIB has had to make severe cuts in community programs not related to pro sports in order to accommodate the Pacers and Colts, and most of those losses are permanent.

With the austerity moves and existing hospitality taxes, along with a backup loan available from the state, the city says it can shoulder the $33.5 million. No property tax bite is anticipated.

Overstated and debatable as they often are, the tangible and intangible benefits of an NBA franchise would seem to justify the people's investment. Nor should we discount the value of more than 100 non-sports events held in the facility. The time that was taken, well past the June 30 sort-of deadline posted by the team, indicates the Ballard administration bargained hard, as the mayor asserted and the Pacers' Jim Morris acknowledged.

Optimism has not exactly taken over the stage. While its finances were boosted this year by the new sports taxing district and the Final Four, the CIB will need an improved economy, an improved basketball team and a fruitful convention center expansion to continue the momentum.

The Pacers, meanwhile, remain saddled with a bloated payroll and -- reportedly -- a perennial deficit, though owner Herb Simon has not made the public privy to Conseco's costs in an itemized form. Nor do we know what his heirs eventually will do with a team he insists he could not bear to move. Another variable is the financially troubled NBA's effort to fashion a more favorable union contract, surely an uphill job.

The ifs are many, the surplus tax dollars less than few. As the city turns its attention back to basic priorities, such as streets and libraries, it appears to have breathing room on an important if often aggravating front. Lest we breathe too easy, three years is barely time to get back on defense.
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