The Finals Day
The ISSMA State Marching Band Finals run Saturday 7 November 2026 at Lucas Oil Stadium, 500 S Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis. This is the 53rd year for the Indiana state finals. Forty-two Indiana high school marching bands compete across four classes, and four State Class Champion bands are crowned.
The venue publishes three times. The ticket office opens at 7:45 a.m. The North and West gates open at 9:00 a.m. The first band starts at 9:30 a.m., and the listing runs to 11:59 p.m. The band performance schedule sits on issma.net.
ISSMA dates its marching season to 176 Indiana high school bands. The state finals close the season for the Open Class bands that qualify through a regional and a semi-state event.
The Band Group's Night
A band group travelling to the finals needs the Friday night in Indianapolis. Three events share that weekend. The convention center next door carries the Monumental Health and Fitness Expo on Friday 6 November in Exhibit Hall A-B, at a venue forecast of 20,000 attendees. The Indianapolis Colts host the Dallas Cowboys at the stadium on Sunday 8 November at 1:00 p.m.
What the Stadium's Own Hotel List Publishes
The stadium links its hotel list through the Hotels and Lodging item in its menu. That list runs on the Visit Indy booking portal, and its rates move between reads. Every figure below comes from a read on 23 September 2026.
Friday 6 November returns twenty priced properties. Four sit inside 2.3 miles. The Sleep Inn and Suites Downtown sits at 2.23 miles for 429 dollars. Staybridge Suites Downtown sits at 0.05 miles for 688 dollars. The Hyatt Regency sits at 0.53 miles for 769 dollars. The Bottleworks Hotel sits at 1.82 miles for 1,004 dollars. The remaining sixteen sit at the airport and in the suburbs, from 66 dollars to 305 dollars.
Saturday 7 November returns twenty priced properties. Thirteen sit inside one mile. The downtown cards run from 339 dollars at the La Quinta Inn and Suites Downtown to 759 dollars at the Embassy Suites. The Marriott Indianapolis Downtown sits at 0.4 miles for 399 dollars, the Hilton Indianapolis Hotel and Suites at 0.7 miles for 445 dollars, and the Sheraton City Centre at 0.8 miles for 503 dollars.
Sunday 8 November returns twenty priced properties, all inside 0.62 miles. The cards run from 158 dollars at the Omni Severin to 309 dollars at the Homewood Suites. The Courtyard Downtown sits at 0.5 miles for 219 dollars, the JW Marriott at 0.46 miles for 229 dollars, and the Hyatt Regency at 0.53 miles for 243 dollars.
The Friday and Saturday pair returns twenty priced properties. Five sit inside 2.3 miles: the Sleep Inn at 369 dollars, the Marriott Indianapolis Downtown at 569, the Hyatt Regency at 580, Staybridge Suites at 652 and the Embassy Suites at 744. On Staybridge Suites the pair prices at 652 dollars an average night against 688 dollars for the Friday night on its own.
The Friday Ask in Numbers
A one-night Friday search returns four downtown properties and sixteen airport or suburban properties. A Friday and Saturday search returns five downtown properties, and it prices the Friday night against a full weekend.
Send the night mix with the ask. A Friday-only request meets the smaller downtown set. A two-night request meets the wider set and carries the weekend the hotel can hold.
The Ticket Terms
ISSMA publishes the 2026 finals ticket terms. Admission is 30 dollars for adults and 25 dollars for students and preschoolers, and children under 3 enter free. Those figures exclude fees.
A Ticketmaster purchase carries a per-ticket fee of 7.75 dollars. That fee equals 26 percent of an adult ticket and 31 percent of a student ticket. Ticketmaster caps an order at 50 tickets.
Three routes carry no additional fee. The Lucas Oil Stadium ticket office sells advance tickets in person only, on Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern. On the day of the event only the Southeast Ticket Office opens, at 7:45 a.m. Participating schools can arrange a group purchase through the band director.
The ticket office takes credit cards with matching photo identification. It takes no cash and no checks. Tickets are mobile only and are not returnable.
The Ask to the Hotels
hotelhaggle sends one request to 50 or more hotels at once. Hotels accept, counter or decline, and responses arrive within 24 to 72 hours. Submitting costs nothing. The brand states that hotels pay a commission when a booking is made and that the rate is never marked up. The brand also states that group rates start at 10 rooms per night, and that some properties discount from 5 rooms depending on season and availability.
Put the night mix, the room count and the parking need in the request, and send it to the downtown set the Friday and Saturday search returns.
