Four nights, 70,000 attendees, 7,100 rooms
The 99th National FFA Convention & Expo runs October 21 to 24, 2026 at the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium. The venue publisher forecasts 70,000 attendees. Its own downtown count reads 7,100 hotel rooms, with 4,700 of them connected to the Center by skywalk.
Four nights against 7,100 rooms gives 28,400 room nights downtown. The forecast divides to 9.86 attendees for every downtown room. The base covers 10.14 percent of the convention.
Group occupancy sets the room requirement
Chapters hold rooms at group occupancy. Two attendees per room puts the requirement at 35,000 rooms, which is 4.93 times the downtown base. Three per room puts it at 23,333, or 3.29 times. Four per room puts it at 17,500, or 2.46 times.
The base absorbs the full-night demand at every level of sharing. The 4,700 skywalk rooms carry 66.2 percent of the downtown stock. The remaining 2,400 rooms sit off the connected system.
The day-use read on the four nights
A day-use booking sells part of a room-day. This convention holds four full nights in a city with 7,100 rooms, and the partial days sit at each end of the run.
Badge pickup in Hall A opens at 8 a.m. Wednesday. Opening Session 1A starts at 3:30 p.m. Saturday closes with the American Degree Ceremony at 1:30 p.m.
The venue clock bounds the connected rooms. The skywalk page states its closing and opening times as event-dependent, with an evening lock-down around 11 p.m. and a morning re-opening around 6 a.m. The CDE/LDE courtesy shuttles start at 6 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday.
The rate base
Engine publishes an Indianapolis average of USD 128 a night across 1.2 million public rate observations from May 2024 to April 2026. Its month table puts October at USD 134, five percent above the citywide average, and September at USD 117.
The housing window
Housing opened May 13 at 6 p.m. EDT across chapter and alumni reservation links, with webinars for chapter and state staff. The last day to cancel without penalty was September 2 at 5 p.m. EDT. Housing closes September 23 at 5 p.m. EDT.
The organiser publishes the Chapter Hotel List, the Expo Sponsor Hotel List and the Hotel Area Map behind Box links, and publishes no rate and no occupancy figure for the block.
The overflow set
The A to Z guide names the connected properties: the JW Marriott complex, Indianapolis Marriott Downtown, Westin, Hyatt Regency, Omni Severin, Crowne Plaza and Circle Centre Mall. It tells attendees at airport-area hotels that most airport hotels provide complimentary shuttles.
The expansion adds the 803-room Signia by Hilton Indianapolis on a December 2026 target, joined to the Center by skybridge. That is 11.3 percent of the current downtown base.
What sits either side of the run
The venue feed carries the Midwest Multifamily Conference on October 15 and 16 at 950 attendees, and the next booking opens with FFA on October 21. The State Board of Law Admission Ceremony takes October 26 at 1,800. The SHPE National Conference takes October 28 to 31 at 15,000.
FFA states its convention runs in Indianapolis through at least 2033, with October 27 to 30, 2027 on the schedule.