Mitch Barnhart is Open to a Kentucky Basketball Game at Kroger Field

Rupp Arena is the storied home to the Greatest Tradition in College Basketball. Approximately 20,000 people can fill the stands for a Kentucky basketball game. Big Blue Nation loves its Wildcats. Could three times as many people fill the stands at Kroger Field? Mitch Barnhart is open to the idea.

The revenue-sharing era of college athletics began a month ago. Barnhart now operates the athletic department under Champions Blue LLC. The goal of this new entity is to ensure the athletic department’s financial future. In order to pay athletes roughly $20 million annually, the athletic department needs more money.

How do you make more money? Look to your biggest moneymaker. That’s not Rupp Arena. The University of Kentucky has a lease agreement with The Lexington Center Corporation through 2033.

Kroger Field is Kentucky’s greatest, and most costly, financial asset. They spent $126 million in 2015 to give the venue a major facelift. Kentucky is spending around $21 million for maintenance and to upgrade corner suites and the west end zone over the next two years, with construction beginning following this football season.

Kentucky is spending to money to make money. It’s hard to make money when you use your biggest moneymaker only 20 times a year. “If we could jump that up to 25 or 30, that’d be awesome,” Mitch Barnhart said Tuesday.

Kroger Field hosted Christ Stapleton and Tyler Childers concerts in consecutive springs. It is also the host of the KHSA State Football Championships. Kentucky wants to get more creative. Could that mean bringing a basketball event to the home of Kentucky football? What about the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry game?

“You never know,” he smiled. “You’ve seen anything. I won’t name any groups, but you see stuff going on in stadiums. Why not? Why not try? I think you’re looking for things that could happen. I’m a little short on saying basketball on a slippery surface in November. But I think we have to be open about anything.”

Kentucky fans have shown a willingness to fill big venues in the past. A college basketball attendance record was set in 2003 when 78,129 people attended the “Basketbowl” at Ford Field, where the Wildcats never trailed in a 79-74 victory over Michigan State.

A basketball game at Kroger Field doesn’t sound like a recurring event, but there were reports that a UFL team could split time in Lexington and Louisville. Barnhart hasn’t had any discussions about playing professional spring football at Kroger Field. There is one other idea he’d love to pitch: NHL’s Stadium Series.

“We’ve got a franchise that sits up in Columbus. We’ve got one down in Nashville,” said Barnhart. “Could there be a meeting of the minds and do a mid-winter classic in here? Could we? I don’t know. Would they be interested? I don’t know. But why not?”

Basketball and hockey at Kroger Field? Sign me up.

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