An Indianapolis-based economic development nonprofit is partnering with the leaders of a $98 million Indiana sports initiative focused on female athletes.

Sports Tech HQ Inc., which launched in 2022 with seed funding from the Indiana Economic Development Corp., will work closely with Marvella, a group that this spring plans to break ground on the country’s first sports and leadership campus aimed at girls and women.

The $98 million, three-phase Marvella project, first reported by IBJ in September, is expected to occupy 120 acres at Fair Oaks Farms, on the eastern edge of Newton County in northwest Indiana. With groundbreaking set for the spring, the project will include 300,000 square feet of buildings, numerous turf fields and courts for basketball, volleyball, flag football, lacrosse and soccer, and a multi-purpose arena for championship events.

The partnership, announced Wednesday, will consist of regular meetings between Marvella and Sports Tech HQ leadership, with a focus on identifying and suggesting companies in sports technology that could be of benefit to athletes participating in programs at the campus. The agreement doesn’t have a monetary value, but rather is focused on in-kind service exchanges.

Sports Tech HQ is also expected to help implement different kinds of technology throughout the campus to provide more interactivity for visitors, as well as engagement and data-based insights for athletes. Those efforts are expected to have broad reach, involving companies that are already located in Indiana as well as others Sports Tech HQ is hoping to attract to the state.

“This is thrilling and exciting, and it’s the next step, as we think about designing Marvella specifically for these young athletes,” said Allison Barber, a former Indiana Fever executive who is chair of Marvella Foundation, the group’s nonprofit component. “We’ll focus, along with Sports Tech HQ, on … looking for the technology to help us maximize the opportunity and experience for girls.”

Barber told IBJ the partnership will focus on emerging technologies in training facilities, strength and conditioning, and support systems for athletes and education.

The Marvella sports campus will provide training facilities, educational programming, physical and mental health support, an expansive media center and a museum focused on Indiana’s role in the passage of Title IX, a federal law established in 1972 that bolstered funding for women’s sports.

Marvella was created by brothers Glenn and Lou Tilley. It is named in honor of Indiana Sen. Birch Bayh’s late wife, who inspired the creation of Title IX.

Jeffrey Hintz, the executive director of Sports Tech HQ, said the partnership will benefit both organizations because it will give Marvella a first crack at unique developments in the industry while providing the economic development group an opportunity to work with more companies and grow the sector’s footprint across the state.

Since its launch, Sports Tech HQ has helped bring 20 sports-technology-related companies to Indiana, doubling the number of firms that call the state home in some form, whether through global or national headquarters, a sales office or manufacturing operations. Hintz said the group hopes to secure commitments from another 16 companies throughout 2025.

“By being in tech and exploring companies all over the globe, we are seeing things all over the world that we’d love to introduce to Indiana,” he said. “And as they look to build this facility and make it world class for the people that will interact with it … whether it’s in programming, education, delivering leadership courses, or it’s next level insights to athletic performance, we feel like our universe is broad enough that we can introduce them to companies that can help them in those spaces.”

Construction on the $38 million first phase of the Marvella project is expected to begin in the spring and will largely consist of an indoor athletic facility with eight basketball courts (that can also be used for volleyball), as well as a training center for skills development and athletic training needs. It is expected to open by mid-2026.

The second phase will be the development of a leadership and health and wellness center through which Marvella plans to offer educational programming, a speaker series and media room, as well as six outdoor turf fields and an immersive women’s sports museum.

The final phase of the project will be the construction of a 5,000-seat indoor arena for championship events, tournament games, concerts and other events, along with six additional outdoor fields.

Former Fever star player and executive Tamika Catchings will serve in an advisory role, while Suzy Kolber, a longtime anchor and analyst for ESPN, will oversee digital communications for the project. Billie Jean King Enterprises is also involved in the endeavor.

Barber said the facility will go beyond helping female athletes improve their in-game performance to include programs that help those looking for other avenues into athletics later in life. That could include helping train in areas such as sports broadcasting and production, as well as sports marketing.

She added that those efforts are likely to extend into the sports technology space, too.

“We could absolutely have tech innovation camps and weekends for girls, and incubate that type of opportunity for girls,” she said. “The growth in sports, of course, continues to rise. The focus of girls looking at opportunities to get inside the business of sports continues to rise, as well. Marvella could absolutely incubate that in partnership with Sports Tech HQ.”

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