The structure is there ONLY because it in on the Registry of Historic Places and it would cost the city a mountain to tear it down.

Call it a scam or whatever but the powers-that-be wanted it ripped down ( a la Market Square Arena and the Hoosier Dome) as soon as its replacement was built. The historical preservation people put a stop to that.

The period it spent as a racetrack was nothing more than an attempt to further insure it would never be used for baseball and to save the city the $100,000+ they were paying to be responsible for its maintenance.