Rupp Arena is finally getting a new (sticker-free) basketball court

Ding dong, the Central Bank Center stickers will soon be gone! A while back, a KSR caller tipped us off that a new basketball court will be installed at Rupp Arena this season, in time for the Gonzaga game. Now, we have an actual timeline AND a rendering of the new design.

UK Athletics announced that the new court is expected to be installed by December 2 in time for Kentucky’s game vs. UNC-Wilmington. Why not sooner? The current court has customizations installed specific to the volleyball surface overlay, necessitating that the court remain in place for the remainder of the volleyball season. The last home match of the volleyball regular season is Nov. 25 vs. Florida. The volleyball, women’s basketball, and gymnastics teams are using Rupp Arena as their home venue this year as Memorial Coliseum undergoes renovations.

Enough words. Here’s the rendering of the new court, which features the UK logo at midcourt and a contrasting wood stain outline of the state of Kentucky. The new design keeps the Cawood’s Court marker memorializing legendary radio play-by-play announcer Cawood Ledford and the UK logo with “Mr. Wildcat” honoring longtime manager Bill Keightley in front of the UK bench.

Most importantly, the new court is sticker-free. While the current court has been in place since 2001, it has undergone a few redesigns, the most recent being in 2020 to add stickers with the new “Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center” naming rights. The new design still bears that name but in a much more subtle (and symmetrical) manner.

Hallelujah. Time to fully exorcise the demons of the past three years. Pour one out for the stickers. Or don’t.

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