The Fishers Freight will try to snap a five-game losing streak Sunday when they visit the Arizona Rattlers at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Eastern.

What looked like a breakout season has turned into a fight for survival. The Freight opened 2026 by winning five of their first six games, but haven’t won since a 53-31 victory at Iowa on April 25. At 5-6, Fishers sits below .500 with five games left and little margin for error in the Eastern Conference playoff chase.

The frustrating part for head coach and fans alike: this streak could easily look different. Four of the five losses came by a combined 11 points, including a 36-34 heartbreaker at Jacksonville on May 30, when a blocked kick in the final seconds sealed the loss, and last Saturday’s 45-44 overtime defeat to Tulsa at the Fishers Event Center.

There is reason for optimism heading west. The Freight handled these same Rattlers 63-42 in Fishers on April 5, the high point of the season’s hot start. That game remains Arizona’s most lopsided loss of the year.

Repeating that result in the desert is another matter. The Rattlers are 7-3 and a perfect 5-0 at home this season. Arizona reached the championship game of the league’s midseason IFL Cup tournament in May, falling 48-44 to the Vegas Knight Hawks, and bounced back with a 56-32 win over the Northern Arizona Wranglers in their last outing.

Sunday opens a closing stretch that will decide the Freight’s postseason fate. After Arizona, Fishers hosts Iowa on June 20 for Medieval Night, travels to Green Bay on June 27, visits Quad City on July 11, and closes at home against Orlando on July 26. Three of those four are conference games against teams the Freight will likely be chasing — or holding off — in the standings.

The math is simple: keep losing, and the first playoff berth in the franchise’s young history slips away. Win in a building where Arizona hasn’t lost all year, and the Freight head home with momentum and a statement.

The game will be streamed live on the Yahoo Sports streaming service.

Wednesday’s announcement at the Fishers District was really four announcements in one: a corporate headquarters, a city-built fieldhouse, a professional sports team’s new home base, and more than 300 new places to live. Taken together, they tell us a great deal about where Fishers is headed — and they raise questions taxpayers should want answered before the City Council votes on the economic development package Monday night.

The big picture: nearly a billion dollars in one district

Mayor Scott Fadness put a number on it Wednesday: with this $169 million sixth phase, total investment in the Fishers District now stands at just shy of $1 billion. By the mayor’s count, the district now represents 40 restaurants open or committed, 1,400 multi-family homes, 70,000 square feet of office space and nearly 500 hotel rooms.

That is a remarkable trajectory for ground that was largely undeveloped when The Yard broke ground less than a decade ago. The Fishers Event Center accelerated everything around it, and this phase is the clearest evidence yet of the city’s strategy: cluster sports, entertainment, dining and housing tightly enough that each piece feeds the others. JD North America’s CEO said as much Wednesday — the company chose the site in part because of the district’s blend of sports, retail and recreation.

The city says it has attracted nearly $3.5 billion in capital investment and more than 11,000 jobs at an average annual wage of $76,000 since 2015. Wednesday’s announcement fits squarely into that pattern.

The headquarters: a regional win, with an asterisk

JD North America’s move is unambiguously good news for Fishers. The company — home to the JD and Finish Line brands — will purchase and remodel the 350,000-square-foot Link building at 11100 USA Parkway, bringing more than 400 corporate employees and pledging roughly 200 more jobs in the coming years. The building, formerly home to USA Funds and then Navient, gets a committed owner-occupant. That alone matters: in a post-pandemic office market, large corporate campuses are hard to fill, and an empty one is a drag on any city’s tax base.

But it is worth being precise about what kind of win this is. JD North America is moving from the far east side of Indianapolis, about 20 minutes away. For Central Indiana as a whole, these are retained jobs, not new ones — the genuinely new jobs are the 200 promised hires. CEO John Hall noted Wednesday that many of his 425 current employees already live in Fishers, which suggests the daily lives of much of the workforce won’t change dramatically. The JD Finish Line distribution center stays in Indianapolis.

This is the familiar arithmetic of intra-regional headquarters moves: one city’s gain is, at least partly, a neighboring city’s loss. That doesn’t make it a bad deal for Fishers — property taxes, daytime workers spending money in the district, and the prestige of an international brand’s North American headquarters are real benefits. It does mean the public benefit case rests heavily on the 200 new jobs and the renovation of The Link, and that’s where the incentive terms (and their clawback provisions) deserve close reading.

The fieldhouse: the city doubles down on youth sports

The $65 million, 180,000-square-foot Fishers Fieldhouse is the piece of this with the most direct public money attached — the City of Fishers will build it. It will house Indy Ignite’s headquarters and a 29,000-square-foot practice facility, plus flex space for 10 basketball or 20 volleyball courts aimed at youth leagues and tournaments. Pro Net Sports will base a new Indy Hoops Academy girls program and a new AAU boys program there. Groundbreaking is set for fall 2026, with opening in late 2027 or early 2028.

The strategy is straightforward: youth sports tourism is a roughly $40 billion industry, and tournament families fill hotel rooms and restaurants — assets the Fishers District now has in quantity, with more committed. The fieldhouse follows the city’s $3.6 million investment in athletic fields announced in March and the creation of a city-district athletic director position. Fishers is making a sustained bet that it can be a youth sports destination.

It is a bet with competition. Westfield’s Grand Park has anchored this market in Hamilton County for a decade, and indoor tournament facilities are proliferating nationally.

For Indy Ignite, the value is clear. After two seasons, the franchise gets the first purpose-built training facility in Major League Volleyball, steps from its home court — the kind of infrastructure that signals a team is here to stay.

The housing: 265 units where the city needs them

Buckingham Companies’ Contrast | Fishers — 167 apartments and 98 townhomes on a 50-acre site adjacent to the Event Center — may be the least flashy piece, but it addresses a real constraint. Hamilton County’s housing supply has not kept pace with its job growth, and a district built on walkability needs people who can walk to it. Class A rentals and townhomes won’t solve affordability concerns — these will be high-end units — but adding supply near jobs and entertainment is consistent with how the city has approached the Nickel Plate District downtown. Groundbreaking is expected this year, with completion in late 2028.

The incentives: what we know, and what we don’t

Here is what has been made public so far.

The Fishers City Council will consider the economic development agreements at its June 15 meeting. Economic Development Director Megan Baumgartner said the agreements include clawback provisions allowing the city to recover incentives if terms — presumably job creation and investment commitments — are not met. The city says detailed incentive terms will be posted online before the vote. As of this writing, the dollar figures for the city’s incentives to JD North America and Buckingham have not been released.

At the state level, Gov. Mike Braun’s office announced its own support for the JD North America expansion the same day. The state’s standard tool for deals like this is the Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) tax credit, administered by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. EDGE credits are performance-based: they are calculated as a percentage of the expected increase in payroll tax withholdings from new jobs, and the company only collects as it actually creates the jobs. The IEDC has not yet published the specific amount committed to JD North America.

The performance-based structure matters. Both the city’s clawback language and the state’s pay-as-you-hire credits are designed to address the classic failure mode of incentive deals — paying for promises rather than results. Fishers has used this template before, and the announcement language Wednesday emphasized it.

The City Council takes up the economic development agreements Monday, June 15. The incentive details should be posted online before then. The fieldhouse breaks ground this fall, Buckingham breaks ground on Contrast | Fishers this year, and JD North America’s renovation of The Link begins in 2027. If all of it holds to schedule, the area around the Event Center will be one continuous construction zone into 2028 — and the Fishers District will cross the billion-dollar mark the mayor has been pointing toward since The Yard was just a plan.

Overnight work on the Clear Path project will mean ramp and road restrictions this week on the northeast side of Indianapolis, a construction zone used by many Fishers-area drivers.

The Indiana Department of Transportation says crews will be completing work on the project’s final new bridge and installing ramp pavement markings.

The restrictions are scheduled from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. each night.

On Thursday, June 11, the ramp from eastbound I-465 to southbound Binford Boulevard will be closed while crews install pavement markings. Also Thursday night, eastbound 82nd Street will be closed under I-69 for overhead bridge work.

On Friday, June 12, and Saturday, June 13, westbound 82nd Street will be closed under I-69 for overhead bridge work.

INDOT says emergency access will be maintained at 82nd Street during the closures.

As with most construction projects, the schedule could change if weather or other unforeseen circumstances interfere with the planned work.

The Clear Path project is designed to improve traffic flow through the I-465/I-69 interchange area on the northeast side of Indianapolis, a key route for commuters traveling between Fishers, Castleton and other parts of the Indianapolis metro area.

Fishers High School students are getting hands-on experience this summer in the world of live event production, and the Hamilton Southeastern School Board took time Wednesday night to recognize their work.

Students in the Fishers High School Music and Sound Production class, under the direction of teacher Ray Masterson, are serving as the live audio team for the City of Fishers’ Free Tuesdays concert series at the Nickel Plate District Amphitheater.

The partnership with Fishers Parks gives students the opportunity to apply what they have learned in the classroom in a real-world setting, handling the kind of responsibilities that are part of professional live entertainment production. Those duties include operating sound systems, mixing live audio, managing stage production and troubleshooting equipment during performances.

Students prepared for the work throughout the spring semester, with guidance from Masterson and support from Fishers Parks staff.

The nine-week partnership is expected to provide students with as many as 54 hours of work-based learning experience. At the same time, their work supports one of Fishers’ signature summer community events.

HSE Schools says the collaboration is another example of the partnership between the school district and the City of Fishers, creating career-connected learning opportunities for students while also serving the broader community.

The students and Masterson were recognized during Wednesday night’s HSE School Board meeting.

In one other matter before the board of trustees Wednesday, Sarah Zack was named the new Assistant Principal at Riverside Intermediate School.

Hamilton Southeastern School Board members took another step Wednesday night in an ongoing effort to bring the district’s budget into balance, approving a new schedule of fees for families.

The vote was 5-1, with one abstention. Board member Latricia Schooley voted no, while Sarah Parks-Reese abstained. On the seven-member board, most measures require at least four votes for approval.

More details on the new fees are available in a previous story at this link.

The board also unanimously approved several school policy changes on second reading, including revisions designed to comply with a new state law governing student access to wireless communication devices, such as cell phones, during the school day. More details on those policy changes are available in my previous story at this link.

In other action Wednesday night:

Two technology contracts were renewed. The first was an agreement with ParentSquare, the district’s communication platform for families and staff. The second was a contract with Lightspeed, which provides web filtering and internet security services for the school district.

The board also approved a measure allowing HSE Schools to partner with the City of Fishers in an effort to secure the best possible pricing on fuel purchases. The action gives administrators authority to move quickly when fuel-buying opportunities arise. District officials said such opportunities can sometimes come with a decision window of only about 45 minutes, particularly when considering longer-term fuel purchases.

Board members also received an update on the proposed timeline for contract bargaining with the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association. Much of that schedule is dictated by state law. Informal negotiations are expected to begin August 24, with the first formal bargaining session set for September 2. If the process stays on schedule, the contract would be finalized by October 28.

Hamilton Southeastern Schools will place a new operating referendum on the November 3 ballot following a school board vote Wednesday night. The measure passed 6-0, with board President Tiffany Pascoe abstaining.

In other welcome news for the district, Superintendent Matt Kegley announced that attrition has opened enough positions that all 18 teachers who received Reduction in Force notices this spring will have jobs, meaning no teacher layoffs for the coming school year.

Pascoe explains her abstention

Pascoe also abstained in 2023, when the board voted to place the district’s previous referendum on the ballot. She said Wednesday that abstention came because financial questions she had at the time “went unanswered.”

She expressed confidence in the current administrative team, but raised concerns about committing to an eight-year referendum without knowing who will serve on the board in the years ahead. Her abstention this time, she said, is “in deference to the community that the board serves.”

Why another referendum so soon?

Kegley walked the board through a detailed explanation of why the district is returning to voters now. The 2023 referendum, approved with 70% support, was intended to run for eight years. But property tax legislation passed by Indiana lawmakers in the 2025 session changed how property taxes are computed, and the referendum rate now yields far less revenue than under the previous system.

The referendum is only part of the district’s financial response. Kegley noted HSE enrolls roughly 1,500 fewer students than it did six years ago, and the district’s budget reduction committee is recommending $7.8 million in spending cuts to compensate.

Even where assessed property values are rising, Kegley explained, the deductions the state now allows under the 2025 changes reduce the amount of valuation actually subject to the tax rate.

What the ballot language means for taxpayers

As required by state law, the ballot language will cite a maximum rate increase of 36 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. Kegley emphasized the district does not expect to levy that maximum rate in any year of the eight-year referendum.

The ballot language also cites a roughly $700 annual figure based on a median home valuation rounded up, as statute requires, to $400,000. Because district staff will recommend a rate well below the maximum, Kegley said, the median homeowner would actually see an increase of about $3 a month on their property tax bill in 2027 if the referendum passes.

The full presentation Superintendent Kegley delivered to the school board is available at this link.

Multi-platinum country artist Sam Barber will bring his “The American Route Tour” to the Fishers Event Center later this year.

Barber is scheduled to perform at the Fishers venue on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, as part of an extension of the tour through the end of the year.

Tickets will be available first through a venue presale beginning Wednesday, June 17, at 10 a.m. The presale password is BROKENVIEW. The general public sale begins Thursday, June 18, at 10 a.m. local time through FishersEventCenter.com.

The tour announcement comes during a breakout period for Barber, who released his sophomore album, “Broken View,” earlier this year through Atlantic Outpost. The album was co-written and co-produced by Barber and Joe Becker, with additional songs co-produced with Aaron Dessner, whose credits include work with Taylor Swift and Noah Kahan.

“Broken View” explores themes of love, loss and self-discovery, continuing Barber’s reputation for deeply personal songwriting. The album has drawn praise from country music outlets, with All Country News calling it “a sophomore record that doesn’t just meet expectations,” and Whiskey Riff describing the 13-song collection as “incredibly impressive.”

Barber has quickly become one of country music’s rising names. Raised on a farm in southeast Missouri, he began playing music as a teenager after picking up his great-grandfather’s Gibson guitar. He now lives in Bozeman, Montana.

His 2024 debut album, “Restless Mind,” earned widespread attention and RIAA Gold certification. The album includes the 2x Platinum-certified single “Straight and Narrow” and the Platinum-certified “Indigo,” featuring Avery Anna. “Indigo” has generated more than 728 million global streams and helped Barber reach the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Barber has accumulated more than 3.4 billion global streams and has shared stages with Bruce Springsteen and Ed Sheeran. He has also performed on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” and “CBS Saturday Morning,” and his song “Tear Us Apart” was featured on the soundtrack for the movie “Twisters.”

The Fishers stop adds another nationally known touring act to the Fishers Event Center calendar as the venue continues building its concert schedule.

A brand familiar to generations of Central Indiana shoppers is getting a new name — and a new hometown.

Finish Line, the athletic retailer long headquartered on the far east side of Indianapolis, merged with British retail giant JD Sports and is rebranding as JD. On Wednesday, city and company officials announced JD North America will move its corporate headquarters to Fishers, anchoring a $169 million sixth phase of the Fishers District.

The move brings more than 400 corporate employees to Fishers, with plans to add 200 more jobs in the next few years. The JD Finish Line distribution center will remain in Indianapolis.

JD North America will acquire and remodel the 350,000-square-foot building at 11100 USA Parkway known as The Link — the former headquarters of USA Funds and later Navient. Renovations will begin in 2027.

“We love this building. We love this city,” said John Hall, CEO and managing director of JD North America. Hall said many of his current 425 employees already live in Fishers, and when they heard the news of the move, “the response was a resounding success.”

The headquarters is one piece of a much larger plan for the area around the Fishers District, the Fishers Event Center and The Link.

The City of Fishers will build the $65 million, 180,000-square-foot Fishers Fieldhouse, which will serve as the official training facility and headquarters for Major League Volleyball’s Indy Ignite. The team gets a 29,000-square-foot home base for practice, training and front office operations, just steps from its home court at the Fishers Event Center.

“Incredibly exciting,” said Ignite President and General Manager Mary Kay Huse. “Today is just another huge milestone for this franchise and also for our community. This new state-of-the-art practice facility will be the first of its kind for Major League Volleyball.”

The fieldhouse will also include flex space for 10 basketball or 20 volleyball courts aimed at youth sports leagues and tournaments. Pro Net Sports will make the facility home to a new Indy Hoops Academy girls basketball program and a new AAU boys basketball program. The fieldhouse will break ground in fall 2026 and is expected to open in late 2027 or early 2028.

Buckingham Companies will serve as master developer of the expansion and is planning Contrast | Fishers, a 50-acre mixed-use development with 167 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and 98 three- and four-bedroom townhomes. Groundbreaking is expected this year, with completion anticipated in late 2028.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness said that when The Yard was first developed, he had no idea future development would come to this.

“This marks just shy of a billion dollars of investment in the Fishers District,” Fadness said. “It represents 40 restaurants either here today or have committed to being in the Fishers District, 1,400 multi-family homes, 70,000 square feet of office and nearly 500 hotel rooms have been committed to be a part of this entertainment district.”

Economic Development Director Megan Baumgartner said the Fishers City Council will consider the economic development package at its June 15 meeting. The agreement includes clawback provisions allowing the city to recover incentives if the terms are not met. Details of the incentives are expected to be posted online later this week.

If approved, the area around the Fishers District, the Fishers Event Center and The Link will see a great deal of construction in the coming years.

Stephanie Braden, a registered nurse and longtime Fishers resident, has announced her candidacy for the Hamilton Southeastern School Board in District 4.

Braden, who has lived in the community for more than a decade, said her decision grows out of both her family’s experience in Hamilton Southeastern Schools and a career built around service. She has worked as a registered nurse for over 16 years, including as a charge nurse leading teams, coordinating patient care and mentoring staff.

She is also a member of the United States Army Reserve, where she has served for more than 25 years and held a number of leadership positions. “These experiences have strengthened my commitment to service, accountability, teamwork, and leading with integrity,” she said in her announcement.

A mother of five, Braden said all of her children have attended HSE schools. Three have graduated — including one who recently earned an engineering degree and another now serving as a cadet at West Point — while her two younger children remain in the district. She pointed to her family’s experience as the reason she wants to focus on keeping and recruiting strong teachers and welcoming new families to HSE.

“Strong teacher support and community investment are essential to maintaining the academic excellence that attracts families to our district and strengthens our public school system,” she said.

Braden noted a history of community involvement, including health education for mothers, volunteering as an elementary math tutor, and serving as a room parent and classroom volunteer.

If elected, she said her priorities would include supporting academic excellence, investing in public schools, fiscal responsibility and empowering educators. She framed her approach as collaborative, emphasizing input from families, students, staff, taxpayers and community leaders.

“Our community deserves transparent and honest leadership that values diverse perspectives, seeks common ground, and remains focused on what is best for students,” she said. “I would be honored to earn your support and serve our community as a member of the Hamilton Southeastern School Board.”

Candidate filing continues for the Hamilton Southeastern School Board election, with the deadline set for Thursday, June 18, at noon.

As of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 9, six candidates had filed with the Hamilton County Election Office in Noblesville. Four of the seven seats on the HSE School Board are on the ballot this year.

Voters will select a candidate to represent their individual district. The election is scheduled for Tuesday, November 3.

So far, I have received one candidate news release, from Josh Perry.

Here are the candidate filings as listed by the Hamilton County Election Office:

Hamilton Southeastern School Board, District 1
Faiza Maqsood — No Party
Greg Wright — Republican

Hamilton Southeastern School Board, District 2
Josh Perry — No Party
Cyrus Keck — No Party

Hamilton Southeastern School Board, District 3
David Turk — Republican

Hamilton Southeastern School Board, District 4
Stephanie Braden — No Party

Candidate filings remain open until noon June 18.