Kentucky keeping arena options open

Rupp Arena is a legendary basketball venue. It has housed some of the best teams in college hoops history. Blue-clad fans pack the place every night, even if they're only there to take in a halfhearted exhibition game between a foreign national team and a handful of former Kentucky stars.

But Rupp, like any good storied arena, is getting to the point where its age is outshining its charms. The building is old and drab and lacks many of the modern conveniences baked in to the gleaming new arenas we've seen pop up in NBA cities and college towns in the past 10 years. The obvious example is Louisville's Yum! Center Arena, which provides a beautiful year-round venue for Louisville residents and a top-notch hoops facility in the heart of the city's entertainment district. Kentucky is not the kind of program that wants to lackanything, let alone the facilities required to keep up with the basketball Joneses. (Not to be confused with The Basketball Jones, still the best NBA 'cast on the planet.) But could Kentucky really move out of Rupp?

Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart is currently trying to find an answer to that question. On Tuesday, Barnhart and Lexington mayor Jim Gray sat down for a local news conference to discuss UK's possible arena options going forward. From the Lexington Herald-Leader: 

Gray noted that the process of exploring options is a long way from the finish line. "We're at Step One or Two," he said. "This is a project that will have 10 steps."

Barnhart said UK would be "open-minded" to either renovating Rupp or building a new arena. "My job is to protect University of Kentucky basketball and make sure it has what it needs to be the flagship of college basketball," he said. "... We think about the next 30, 40, 50 years of Kentucky basketball, and how we can be partners with the city in what the mayor's trying to get done."Read More Here