Hoosier rock star John Mellencamp will be among hundreds of friends and dignitaries to gather next week for a tribute and memorial service for Myles Brand, the NCAA president who died Sept. 16 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

The nationally televised event will take place Wednesday at Conseco Fieldhouse — in what is believed to be a first for that venue — and could become one of the most well-attended memorials for a public figure in Indianapolis history.

“That’s not surprising. I think it’s really a great tribute to what he accomplished,” said Marshall Swain, a retired Ohio State philosophy professor who will deliver a tribute to his former classmate.

“Myles and I were grad students together, and we became very good friends. I’m happy to come but also sad at the reason. But I guess that’s what you do for friends.”

Jim Nantz, CBS Sports’ lead play-by-play announcer for college basketball, will serve as host.

Besides Mellencamp, who received an honorary doctor of music degree during Brand’s eight years as president of Indiana University, a handful of NCAA notables will offer personal tributes. They include IU President Michael McRobbie and Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt.

And several video tributes will be played, including from U.S. Sens. Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh, plus Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski.

The service will start at 6 p.m. and is expected to last about 90 minutes. Presented jointly by the NCAA and IU, it will be televised on the CBS-owned College Sports Network.

The event will be open to the public, but anyone who wants to go must fill out a ticket request form at the NCAA Web site, ncaa.org. Members of the public who have no affiliation with the NCAA or IU will be asked to state a reason for wanting to attend.

“We estimate attendance will be approximately 1,000,” said Erik Christianson, a spokesman for the NCAA, which announced the plans Wednesday.

That would put the event on the same level as services for Hoosier basketball legend Tony Hinkle in 1992, which drew 1,000 to Hinkle Fieldhouse, and former Indiana Pacer Roger Brown, whose service drew 1,000 to Market Square Arena in 1997.

The biggest public memorials in recent history were Gov. Frank O’Bannon’s Statehouse service, which drew 5,000, and U.S. Rep. Julia Carson’s service at Eastern Star Church, which drew 2,000.