John Calipari wants to restore Tent City

Tent City has been abandoned since COVID canceled the Big Blue Madness campout in 2020 and the university kept the gates closed to the fan event last fall. Now two-plus years removed from one of Kentucky Basketball’s best traditions, there are concerns the two-year pause could be an easy way out to end the campout altogether.

Many Kentucky fans, myself included, believe discontinuing the tradition of the Big Blue Madness campout would further separate the current times from the not-so-distant Gold Standard™ past. Good news for that crowd, one very important Tent City advocate stepped forward this week: John Calipari.

During Calipari’s seaside chat with Paul Finebaum, he stressed the importance of returning to the Gold Standard™. by improving in areas beyond basketball. First, Calipari admitted Kentucky has fallen behind some of its rival programs in facilities and said he intends to sit down with Mitch Barnhart about shining the place up.

Calipari’s other suggestion was restoring Tent City for Big Blue Madness ticket distribution to re-energize the fan base before the season. To his point, Big Blue Madness itself has lost some of its shine from the days of the John Wall dance, the UnderKanter, and Drake’s appearances.

“(It’s) not acceptable if Midnight Madness isn’t something that’s talked about for a month,” Calipari told Finebaum. “Unacceptable. We need the campout going again.”

2019 Big Blue Madness Campout revisited

The last time Tent City was open to campers, capacity was quickly maxed out at just north of 300 tents around Memorial Coliseum. Fans lined Avenue of Champions at the university-issued 5 AM start time Wednesday morning and by Thursday morning the area was closed to any additional tent real estate.

#TentCity #BBM19 🎟 distribution ✅.

See you at Big Blue Madness on Oct. 11, #BBN. Thanks for another amazing Campout! pic.twitter.com/gnk0QvGdUZ

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) September 28, 2019

For a further look back at all of the Tent City fun in 2019, watch this throwback campout video from KSR’s own Bradley McKee.