Lucas Oil Stadium is home to the Indianapolis Colts, but the building was designed to convert into one of the largest basketball arenas in the world - seating upwards of 70,000 for events like the NCAA Final Four. This is the fourth time Indianapolis has hosted the Men's Final Four at Lucas Oil (2010, 2015, 2021, 2026), and the city handles it better than anywhere else in the country. But the tournament is only half the trip. Indy is compact, walkable, and loaded with food and drink that most visiting fans never find because they don't leave the arena radius. I've been here multiple times for the racing scene and every visit I end up finding more reasons to round up the guys and come back. Here are eight things worth doing between tip-off and the final buzzer.
What Do You Call Your "Guys Trips"?
Indianapolis hosts major events better than almost any mid-size city in the country, but most fans never leave the three-block arena radius. The city beyond Gainbridge Fieldhouse is where the trip gets interesting.
- Downtown is genuinely walkable - the Cultural Trail connects six districts across 8 miles of paved path, and the major bar and restaurant corridors are all within 15 minutes on foot from the arena
- The food identity is stronger than you'd expect - the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich is a statewide obsession with generations of family-run spots competing for the title, and St. Elmo's shrimp cocktail is a rite of passage
- Indiana's oldest bar is five minutes from Lucas Oil - The Slippery Noodle Inn has been open since 1850, served as an Underground Railroad stop, and now runs live blues seven nights a week
- The racing capital is a 15-minute detour - Speedway, Indiana has the Dallara IndyCar Factory, a 1960s drive-in, and the Yard of Bricks at IMS where winners have kissed the original 1909 bricks since 1996
- The Bottleworks District is the new side of Indy - a Coca-Cola bottling plant converted into a food hall, boutique hotel, and cocktail bar corridor that shows where the city is headed
- The St. Elmo Shrimp Cocktail Is Not Optional
- Mass Ave After the Game
- The Pork Tenderloin Sandwich Argument
- The Slippery Noodle: Indiana's Oldest Bar
- Walk the Indianapolis Cultural Trail Between Games
- Bottleworks District and the Garage Food Hall
- Georgia Street and the Lucas Oil Stadium Radius
- Speedway Main Street If You Have a Half-Day
The St. Elmo Shrimp Cocktail Is Not Optional
St. Elmo Steak House at 127 S. Illinois Street has been open since 1902 and it's the anchor dinner for any guys weekend in Indianapolis. The shrimp cocktail is their signature appetizer - four jumbo shrimp with a horseradish-forward cocktail sauce that has a documented history of making grown men tear up. Peyton Manning, Jim Nantz, and a rotating cast of visiting athletes have all sat in this room and dealt with the same sinus-clearing experience.
Book a reservation before you fly in. Tournament week fills up fast, and walking in without one is a gamble you'll lose. If the steakhouse wait is impossible, St. Elmo's 1933 Lounge next door serves the same shrimp cocktail in a more casual setting.
Mass Ave After the Game
Massachusetts Avenue runs northeast from downtown Indianapolis in a walkable mile-long strip that's become the city's best eating and drinking corridor. It's where locals go, which means the post-game crowd is a mix of fans and regulars rather than a wall of matching jerseys. Sun King Brewing has a taproom on the strip. Livery has craft cocktails in a space that feels more Brooklyn than Midwest. The Rathskeller is a German restaurant in the basement of the Athenaeum building - a 19th-century Turner society hall - with a biergarten that opens up when the weather cooperates.
The walk from Gainbridge Fieldhouse to Mass Ave takes about 10 minutes. No rideshare needed, and if your group is rolling six deep nobody has to figure out who's riding shotgun.
The Pork Tenderloin Sandwich Argument
Indiana's state food obsession is the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich - a pork cutlet pounded thin, breaded, and fried until it hangs well past the bun on all sides. It's the Hoosier version of a Philly cheesesteak or a Kansas City burnt end - the one thing locals will argue about endlessly.
Two spots earn the trip: The Aristocrat Pub at 5212 N. College Ave. has a unique spice blend and an English pub atmosphere. Workingman's Friend at 234 N. Belmont Ave. is a dive bar that's been serving tenderloins since 1918 - cash only, no frills, and the sandwich is enormous. Hit one on your first day and the other on your last, then pick a side. The argument over which one wins is half the fun on any guys trip to Indiana.
The Slippery Noodle: Indiana's Oldest Bar
The Slippery Noodle Inn at 372 S. Meridian Street opened in 1850 as the Tremont House and hasn't closed since. It's on the National Register of Historic Places. The building reportedly served as a stop on the Underground Railroad before the Civil War. During Prohibition, the Dillinger gang reportedly used the back building for target practice - bullet slugs are said to still be embedded in the east wall. It operated as a brothel until 1953. Since 1985 it's been a blues venue with two stages and live music most nights.
It's a five-minute walk from Lucas Oil Stadium. After a long day of basketball, this is where you end up - not because someone planned it, but because you walked past it and the music pulled you in.
Walk the Indianapolis Cultural Trail Between Games
The Indianapolis Cultural Trail is an 8-mile paved loop connecting six cultural districts: Mass Ave, Fountain Square, the Wholesale District, Indiana Avenue, and the White River Canal Corridor. For tournament purposes, it's your free transportation network between venues, restaurants, and bars without pulling up a rideshare app every time.
Rent a Pacers Bikeshare bike at one of 50+ stations if walking feels slow. The trail passes public art, connects to the canal walk, and keeps you moving through actual neighborhoods rather than the three-block arena radius that most visitors never leave.
Bottleworks District and the Garage Food Hall
The Bottleworks District sits at the north end of Mass Ave inside the old Coca-Cola bottling plant. The Garage Food Hall is the centerpiece - multiple food vendors under one roof, communal seating, and the kind of setup where your group doesn't need to agree on a restaurant. The Bottleworks Hotel upstairs is a 139-room boutique that TripAdvisor ranked among the top hotels in the country - worth a drink in the lobby bar even if you're not staying there.
This is the polished side of Indy - exposed brick, curated cocktails, craft everything. The contrast with the Slippery Noodle and Workingman's Friend is part of what makes this city more interesting than its reputation suggests.
Georgia Street and the Lucas Oil Stadium Radius
The Final Four games happen at Lucas Oil Stadium - which seats over 70,000 for basketball, making it one of the largest basketball venues on the planet when converted from its NFL configuration. Georgia Street between the Convention Center and the stadium turns into an outdoor block party during tournament games - big screens, food vendors, and fan activations that spill across several blocks. The pregame atmosphere here during March Madness is louder and more chaotic than most regular-season NBA games. Show up early enough to find a spot.
Kilroy's Bar & Grill on Georgia Street is the reliable pregame spot - loud, packed with fans, and the food is better than it needs to be for a sports bar. For something with less volume, walk one block south to Spoke & Steele inside the Le Méridien hotel.
Speedway Main Street If You Have a Half-Day
The town of Speedway sits about 15 minutes west of downtown Indianapolis and most basketball fans will never think to go there. That's their loss. Mug-N-Bun is a classic drive-in that's been open since 1960 - root beer floats, burgers, and a parking lot full of guys eating in their cars. It's the most relaxed meal you'll have all trip.
The Dallara IndyCar Factory on Main Street has a museum, driving simulators, and factory tours. Even if you don't follow racing, standing next to a car that's done 230 mph at the track two miles away changes your frame of reference. And if you walk to IMS itself, the Yard of Bricks - the original three-foot strip of 1909 bricks at the start/finish line - is accessible during museum visits. Winners have been kneeling down to kiss those bricks since 1996, and you can do the same. It's free and it's the kind of moment that sticks.
