The Univ. of Kentucky men’s basketball team will "continue to play at Rupp Arena for 15 more years" after UK and arena manager Lexington Center Corp. (LCC) agreed to a new contract Thursday, according to a front-page piece by Beth Musgrave of the LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER. UK's current lease with Rupp Arena expires at the end of the '17-18 basketball season. UK has played in the arena since it opened in '76. As part of the contract, UK has "agreed to an annual base lease payment" of $1.9M to LCC. That payment "will increase" by 2.4% each year. UK will pay LCC $4.75M "each year for media rights." LCC will receive 15% of "merchandise sales and will be paid a not-yet-decided amount for parking." LCC has "agreed to add four club suites to Rupp Arena and to change roughly 10,584 upper-level seats from benches to chair-back seats." The cost of those changes will "not exceed" $15M. Currently, UK’s annual lease payment to LCC is a "little less" than $1M. Under the new agreement, UK’s "guaranteed payment to the center" is more than $6.65M in the first year. UK AD Mitch Barnhart said that the school will get the "media rights and have additional club seats to sell, generating more revenue for UK Athletics." Currently, LCC "has the media rights." It then pays UK a "percentage of those media rights," which for Rupp have "become more lucrative thanks to a technology upgrade that added more video screens." If UK sells more than $7.25M in media rights, LCC "will receive" 25% of the additional revenue (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER, 12/16).
