A new kind of professional basketball team is headed to Fishers.
The Hoosier State Instigators will play at Best Choice Fieldhouse, 11825 Technology Dr. The American Basketball Association season opens Oct. 19. There will be 10 home games and 10 road games, all on Saturday nights. The team is owned by Apex Athletic Collective, which gives fans voting power to make decisions.
“We came up with the idea of democratizing sports, where people have a subscription to Apex and help make decisions. Us playing in the ABA was a decision of those voters,” said Fishers resident Corey Kern, chairman and one of the founders of Apex Athletic Collective. “It’s truly fans running the team. Right now, most of our subscribers live outside of Indiana. They’re learning about Indiana and the basketball team because they are interested in making calls like the owners do. One is elected to sit on our board. Our hope is eventually we do this with more and more sports teams in bigger and bigger leagues – really giving power to fans to shape their own teams, which has really been reserved for millionaire owners of major sports franchises.”
Apex previously was involved in Fan Controlled Football, an indoor football league that played two seasons in 2021 and 2022. Kern said fans called the offensive plays by vote.
Kern said the goal is for the Instigators to draw 150 fans per game.
“If we grow bigger, we’ll look for a bigger facility,” Kern said. “Players will sign autographs after the game. Kids can shoot at halftime when the teams go in the locker rooms. We’re trying to grow an environment where fans get to know the team and players.”
The team recently hired Jill Dobbs, who has run adult men’s leagues in the Indianapolis area and Chicago, as the head coach.
“Fishers was one of the areas we were super interested in when we were founding the team. We weren’t sure it was possible because teams have to be so far apart from each, so they don’t pull fans from each other,” Kern said.
The team previously played in the Clinton Community Recreation Center. Kern said he loved that site.
“Unfortunately, there were issues with technology and the community size with only 10,000 people or so living in Clinton, which made it unsustainable to stay there,” he said. “Since I’m from Fishers and one of the other owners lives on the northside of Indianapolis, as well, and we’ve seen all the other pro teams moving to Fishers, we thought we would revisit and take a stab at it. We worked it out with the league and worked it out with Best Choice Fieldhouse.”
In its debut 2023-24 season, the team played 16 regular-season games and two playoff games. There are approximately 160 ABA teams across the league in the United States.
Kern said the team is made up primarily of former college players, some who played overseas for a short time.
The ABA is divided into regions. The Instigators are with other teams in Indiana and some teams in the Chicago area.
“I’d say half the team will be returning from last season,” Kern said. “Most of the players make under $100 a game, plus incentives. They are really doing it for the love of the game and the opportunity to go somewhere bigger. The league (pay) range varies because the league leaves it up to the teams.”
Among the returning players are leading scorer LaJuan Whitney, who averaged 25 points per game, and 7-foot Alex Brown, a former San Jose State player who led the ABA in blocked shots last season with an average of more than eight per game.
Tickets will be $10 and $5 for seniors and children under 12. There is a season-ticket package of $90 for all 10 home games.
For more, visit apexofsports.com.
